Serbia did not send a representative to the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels on December 17 after European Union member states again failed to agree on advancing Belgrade’s accession talks, President Aleksandar Vucic said.

The deadlock comes a week after EU officials dismissed Vucic’s suggestion that all Western Balkan countries should join the bloc simultaneously. Serbia is the region’s largest economy and a major investment destination, but EU officials and diplomats say reform momentum there has slowed.

“No Serbian official will represent Serbia at the summit,” Vucic told state broadcaster RTS on December 16, saying the move was intended to protect Serbia’s interests after another setback in negotiations.

The annual EU–Western Balkans summit, held regularly since 2020, takes place as enlargement has returned to the agenda amid geopolitical tensions, but progress has remained uneven across the region.

Serbia has sought to open “Cluster 3” of its accession negotiations, covering competitiveness and inclusive growth. While the European Commission has previously said Serbia met the technical criteria, EU member states failed to reach consensus in the Council.

“I believe that I am protecting Serbia and its interests with this step, because we must show what it is that we have done, and we have done a lot,” Vucic said, referring to reforms carried out in recent years.

Serbia’s Minister for European Integration Nemanja Starovic defended the decision, saying the lack of agreement on a single procedural step sent a damaging signal. “The short-sighted lack of willingness to recognise the results of reforms over the past four years … sends a very bad message to our citizens and fuels anti-European narratives,” he wrote on X.

In a statement, Starovic said Serbia’s absence was meant to defend “the integrity of the accession process” and urged EU member states to reach the political consensus needed to overcome the impasse.

The EU’s ambassador to Serbia, Andreas von Beckerath, said Brussels had hoped Vucic would attend the summit and described his decision not to do so as “an important message”, while stressing that Serbia would continue on its European path.

Von Beckerath said the Commission had confirmed as early as 2021 that Serbia met the technical benchmarks for opening Cluster 3, but that the decision rested with member states. He said the issue would be reconsidered in January, depending on further progress in areas such as the rule of law, judicial independence, electoral reform, implementation of ODIHR recommendations,and media freedoms.

Serbia’s stalled progress contrasts with other candidates in the region. Montenegro is widely seen as the frontrunner in accession talks, with Albania close behind.

Elvira Kovac, head of Serbia’s parliamentary committee for European integration, called Wednesday “a difficult day” for the accession process. “It’s frustrating,” she said, adding that Serbia was more prepared than some countries were when they joined the EU but could still be blocked by member states.

EU leaders and Western Balkan officials are expected to reiterate their commitment to enlargement at the summit, though diplomats caution that concrete steps will depend on reforms and unanimous backing from member states.