legal reform

Serbia EU accession reforms in 1H 2026: negotiations, courts, payments and energy changes

Serbia remains a candidate country with accession negotiations open since January 2014. The European Union status shows 22 of 35 chapters opened and only two provisionally closed. The European Commission has said Cluster 3 — competitiveness and inclusive growth — is technically ready to open, while the overall pace depends on rule-of-law reforms and the normalisation of relations with Kosovo. Belgrade’s reform work in the first half of 2026 combined technical alignment with EU systems and political constraints tied to…