Thread by @RJaarsma

On #Serbia 🇷🇸: Both sides of the Dutch 🇳🇱 political aisle, i.e. PvdA (@TheProgressives) and VVD (@RenewEurope), call for a mechanism to:

- freeze EU accession talks
- cut all pre-accession funding
- suspend visa free travel regime nos.nl/l/2455535

The two want the 🇳🇱 government to propose a revised procedure in Brussels with an increased focus on CSFP alignment (🇪🇺 foreign/security policy). If #Serbia 🇷🇸 doesn't change course, it should be possible to suspend the most important pre-accession mechanisms, the parties say.

Van Wijngaarden (VVD/@RenewEurope): "Due to the current soft 🇪🇺 approach, #Serbia 🇷🇸 under president Vučić risks becoming a 🇷🇺 vassal state and a hub for illegal migration. They are reorienting towards 🇷🇺. We shouldn't let them get away with this." Full motion text later today.

FM @WBHoekstra today noted in 🇳🇱 parliament that #Serbia 🇷🇸 is at a turning point. "A rude awakening", with widespread disappointment at the 🇪🇺 level that after so much aid and support, 🇷🇸 opted for this path. "Anyhow, no further accession steps foreseen." tweedekamer.nl/debat_en_verga…

FM @WBHoekstra also expressed his support for #Kosovo 🇽🇰's visa liberalization, calling it one of the easier dilemmas in the region, especially compared to #BiH 🇧🇦, on which the Dutch government could have decided differently (were the geopolitical circumstances not so dire).

Several motions filed against #Serbia 🇷🇸, incl. suspension of visa free travel ('noodremmechanisme') by 03/2023 (VVD/D66/SP). Main motion: call upon the EC to propose a negative conditionality mechanism by 10/2023 (VVD/PvdA/GL/CDA/CU), which could then be used to freeze talks.

The main motion on #Serbia 🇷🇸 gained broad parliamentary support, incl. from the governing coalition. This means that the 🇳🇱 government will be asking the @EU_Commission to propose a mechanism that would (inter alia) allow for the formal freezing of accession talks by 10/2023.

The Foreign Minister asked MPs to defer the motion on suspending #Serbia's 🇷🇸 visa free regime, as the Dutch government is currently preparing its position (and a report) on this exact topic. Appreciation of this measure should be in before the Christmas 🎄 recess.

"The lower house supports our motion for a stricter treatment of #Serbia 🇷🇸 in case Pres. Vučić doesn't join EU sanctions on #Russia 🇷🇺. Suspending Serbia's EU accession process may become an option; we'd go for it without hesitation."

https://twitter.com/vanwijngaardenj/status/1600923671119466512?t=tkm5aoud4hyeCl2GdMX32g&s=19

Interestingly, the only three parties that voted against the motion that calls upon the @EU_Commission to propose a CFSP alignment conditionality mechanism for #Serbia 🇷🇸, are three far-right parties (PVV/FVD and Van Haga), which are all vehemently against EU enlargement.

This wouldn't be the first time the Netherlands blocks Serbia's EU accession path. Back in 2008, the Netherlands blocked ratification of Serbia's Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) for two years because of Serbia's non-cooperation with the ICTY: euobserver.com/eu-political/2…