00:00EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kala said Serbia's EU membership remains a strategic goal,
00:06but depends on the country's geostrategic choice of direction.
00:10It comes after she met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic while on a visit to Belgrade.
00:16From my discussions with Serbian political leadership,
00:20it is clear that EU membership remains a strategic goal.
00:25However, I want to emphasize that we need to see actions also to prove and support those words.
00:35Reforms are how Serbia will advance along its EU path.
00:41There are no shortcuts for membership. Real progress must be made here in Belgrade.
00:48Kala added that she discussed Vucic's recent trip to Moscow for Russia's Victory Day Parade,
00:53a move that was widely condemned in Brussels.
00:57I really don't understand why it is necessary to stand side by side
01:04with the person who is conducting this horrible war in Ukraine.
01:10And President Vucic was explaining his side of the story.
01:14So yes, we had a very extensive discussion about this.
01:19Vucic has been criticized for maintaining close relations with Russia and China
01:23while formally saying that he wants Serbia to join the EU.
01:27Kala also emphasized the need to normalize relations with Kosovo,
01:31Serbia's former province which declared its independence in 2008.
01:35Most Western countries recognize its independence, but Serbia does not.
01:40Brussels-mediated talks between the two have long been frozen.
01:43Yet Kala said normalization is fundamental for Serbia's European future.
01:47And then the two have long been frozen.
01:48Thank you so much,
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