"After the negative experience with Romania and Bulgaria, the issues regarding rule of law, organised crime and corruption must be addressed in the early stage of the accession process for any new candidate countries," an EU official explained.
"So it is clear why the [EU] commission is focused on the Serbian judiciary reform and why the results of that reform will influence the upcoming Commission opinion on Serbia's readiness to get candidate status," the expert added.
This position was supported by Olivier Chastel, Belgium's state secretary for European affairs, considered to be "the brain" of the upcoming Belgian presidency of the EU.
"We have learned our lessons from the previous enlargements and we have understood that it is hard to implement reforms in the post-accession period. So in the future we will accept only countries that are totally prepared for EU membership," he said.
