Serbia completes screening

BRUSSELS - Serbia on Tuesday finished the screening of the last of the 35 chapters in its EU accession talks, completing a significant section of its European path, Serbia's chief EU negotiator Tanja Miscevic told reporters.

Much work lies ahead for us now to prepare the opening of the first chapters, Miscevic said after the screening for Chapter 33 (budget and finances) ended.

In Serbia's case, the screening, a process of a detailed assessment of the compliance of the candidate country's regulations with EU standards, lasted for nearly a year and a half.

"During that time, we held around 500 presentations for European Commission experts, with more than 700 people from ministries, regulatory bodies and the civil sector participating," Miscevic said.

The next step in the negotiation process are European Commission reports on the chapters, followed by action plans of the Serbian government, which must be approved by the European Council before any chapters are opened.

Photo Tanjug Video (illustration, archive)