Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia Voted Against the Declaration Conditioning Serbia’s Progress Toward the EU

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia voted against the adopted Declaration of the EU–Serbia Joint Consultative Civil Society Committee, as it proposes, among other things, halting Serbia's European integration path.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia represents the interests of the Serbian economy with full awareness that the EU is our largest trading partner. For companies from Serbia, the EU market is one of the most important. Precisely because of this, CCIS cannot support any initiative that calls for conditioning or slowing down the European integration process.
We cannot overlook the fact that in almost every point of the Declaration, there are unmethodical and deeply harmful proposals aimed at completely suspending Serbia’s EU accession process, as well as blocking many concrete processes that are vital for the Serbian economy.
As the protector of Serbia’s business interests, CCIS could not support the undermining of our business environment, which would, in turn, jeopardize Serbia’s position in attracting further foreign investment.
This is especially relevant to the demand for further delays in opening Cluster 3, as well as the calls to postpone some of the largest infrastructure projects that are expected to bring additional development to Serbia.
The CCIS representatives in this Committee proposed several amendments aimed at improving the text of the Declaration, but unfortunately, they were not accepted.
CCIS respects differing viewpoints, which are highly valued in a democracy, and remains committed to the idea of the four freedoms and to free access to the European single market. It is precisely for this reason that we cannot accept a Declaration that, in the European economic, political, and broader public sphere, could lead to beliefs or decisions that would deeply harm the Serbian economy—thereby threatening the fundamental pillars of the domestic economic, industrial, and social environment.