EU Chief Urges Serbia to ‘Get Concrete’ About Joining the Bloc

"We need to see greater alignment in our foreign policy, including on sanctions against Russia," von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

The Serbian president has for years pursued a diplomatic balancing act between the European Union and its strong ties with Russia, as well as China, which has notably invested in Serbian mines.

Von der Leyen said the necessary reforms take "patience and endurance" but urged Vucic to adopt an inclusive approach and lay the foundations for a "more stable and peaceful society."

Large anti-government protests have rocked Serbia for almost a year, after a fatal railway station roof collapse triggered accusations of corruption and calls for early elections.

U.S. sanctions targeting Russia, meanwhile, have hit Serbia's oil sector hard, with its largest oil firm slapped with the long-delayed measures earlier this month. 

But the gas contract between Belgrade and Moscow expires at the end of the year, and von der Leyen highlighted the support offered to European nations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"It had a devastating impact across our entire continent, but we faced it together. The European Union extended the same measures of solidarity to our Western Balkan partners as to our own member states," she said.