Serbia the Frontrunner for 2025 EU Membership Odds

Serbians have joked for more than a decade that the world will end before Serbia enters the EU. Is Serbia still that far from joining the club? Take a look at our predictions on Serbia – EU membership odds.

According to online sportsbook news in Serbia, the EU has been sending mixed signs after years of distracting economic crises and enlargement fatigue on whether or not the path to the union is still open. Maybe the gates of the fortress are not open now, but the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker picked up a year of 2025 as an encouragement for the parties concerned to work hard and meet the criteria by that year. Among the six western Balkan countries in the EU waiting room, Serbia and Montenegro have officially started membership talks just recently. Does that mean they are the favorites of EU membership odds?

EU Membership Odds for Serbians

Many analysts see the state of Serbia having the lion share of the EU attention, after more than a decade of the country’s attempts to improve its candidacy status. Yet ironically Serbian people are not enthusiastic that much to become part of the union. Only 26% of Serbians think it would be a good thing to join the EU, according to the latest annual Balkan Barometer survey.

The lack of enthusiasm perhaps is related to the Serbians realizing that the EU is not magical, and it cannot fix Serbia’s problems overnight. Serbians could benefit from European open market, but the corruption, nepotism and terrible bureaucracy cannot just disappear. Thus, what about the Europeans in older member countries, do they welcome Serbia – EU membership odds?

Obstacles to Serbia’s EU Membership Dream

EU member countries who have struggled to absorb immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, do not like very much the idea of more migration from east to west. It is hard to win the public support for bringing relatively poor countries with a recent history of war and instability into the bloc, especially with right-wing populism still a force to be reckoned with.

Other obstacle that still stands in the way of Serbia to become truly the frontrunner in EU enlargement process is the instability in the Balkan region and lack of warm relations among all six countries in the Western Balkan that aim to join the EU as well. If suddenly a new conflict turns on the enlargement will be frozen for a long time.

Why Does the EU Pay Attention to Serbia?

Although China and the Gulf states are becoming increasingly active economically in the Balkan region, it is Russia that has EU governments most alarmed. Serbia has a free trade agreement with Russia, and many Serbian consumer products are exported to Russia. Online sportsbook news in Serbia suggest that trade relations with Russia could be one of the bargaining chips to accelerate Serbia’s accession process.

Another bargaining chip could be the EU obsession with its strengthening external borders after the migration crisis, during which hundreds of thousands of migrants made their way to Western Europe via the Balkan route. Could Serbia convince the EU in the importance of enlargement for stability and security?

It is hard to perceive such thing to happen for sure, thus 1xBet Sportsbook is offering great EU membership odds of 1.5 for placing a bet on Serbia to become a full EU member by end of 2025. Be aware that the odds are available until June 30, 2018.