ECR Vice-President Anna Magyar co-chaired today the Joint Consultative Committee CoR–Serbia meeting in Pirot, a format bringing together local and regional leaders from Serbia and the European Union.

“A meeting of this kind has not taken place in the past two years, and therefore today feels like the beginning of a new cycle—one we hope will conclude with Serbia as a full member of the EU,” said Ms Magyar, underlining the renewed momentum of the accession process.

Vice-President Magyar also stressed the commitment at local and regional level to doing “our part” and highlighted that the mission is “to bring communities together and to show that this is not just a process between Belgrade and Brussels, as EU integration has a direct impact on towns, villages, and citizens across the country”.

The local and regional dimension of the EU accession process is therefore of the utmost importance for all EU candidate countries. “European integration feels incomplete without the Western Balkans, with Serbia being the biggest part of it. Facilitating such integration is not only a political goal; it is also a way of ensuring peace, stability, and shared prosperity,” concluded Ms Magyar, also thanking the Serbian co-chair and host, Vladan Vasić, for his hospitality in Pirot.