A decade of negotiations: The negotiation process of the Republic of Serbia with the European Union and the challenges of structural reforms a decade later

The negotiation process between the Republic of Serbia and the European Union (EU), which began in January 2014, faced significant challenges during the past decade, which led to a temporary halt in the process of Serbia's accession to full membership in the EU. Despite the kick-off of implementing the revised EU enlargement methodology in February 2020, its failure to accelerate Serbia's accession process stems from the demanding nature of the structural reforms that Serbia must undertake in order to comply with EU standards and principles. These reforms cover various sectors, including the judiciary, public administration, and economic management. The paper investigates the causes of the stall in the negotiation process, such as political resistance, institutional resilience, lack of administrative capacity, and the need for institutional transformation, a decade after the start of negotiations in these areas. Moreover, the issue of corruption and the rule of law remains a significant social and political problem. Serbia's negotiation process with the EU has repeatedly exposed the need for the establishment of an independent and efficient judicial system, free from political influence and corruption. Reforms have been launched whilst certain benchmarks have been met, which shows the country's de facto commitment to the EU integration. Using the methods of document content analysis and discourse analysis, this paper critically examines the mutual interaction between Serbia's long-term negotiation process with the European Union and the delicate process of implementing structural reforms in the period from January 2014 to January 2024. The paper also critically evaluates the political dimensions of the EU enlargement process, including the asymmetric application of accession conditionality and the imposition of unprecedented political requirements on Serbia compared to other candidate countries.