Austrian ambassador: Year of Serbia's EU accession not important

The Austrian ambassador says the year of Serbia's EU accession is not as important as EU's determination that full membership will be the final outcome.

Johannes Eigner told regional TV N1 that 2019 is not a realistic deadline for Serbia to enter the EU, while 2020 is "an ambitious goal."

He pointed points out, however, that the EU project "cannot be completed without the full integration of the Western Balkan countries" and added that Austria expects this outcome.

Eigner recalled that 10 accession negotiations chapters have been opened so far, and two temporarily detained. He compared Serbia's path to EU membership to that of Croatia, which took six years from the formal opening of negotiations.

"Serbia has formally started its negotiations in 2014, if we add six years to that, the end would be 2020, although it is an ambitious goal," he said, adding that...