Foreign trade aspect of Serbia’s accession to the European Union

Abstract

From the past experience, most governments conclude that it is necessary to carry out carefully planned foreign trade policy based on a high degree of liberalization dosed with government control. This kind of foreign trade policy is being implemented both by Serbia and by the European Union, which established the Common Trade Policy (CTP) in 1957. Bearing in mind that Serbia has signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement striving to become a full member of the European Union, it is clear that, in due course, its foreign trade policy must be in line with the European one. This is not an easy task, because parallel to the process of accession to the EU, Serbia is conducting negotiations on accession to the World Trade Organization and those two processes are intertwined and connected. This paper analyses Serbia’s process of accession to the European Union and the impact of this process on its foreign trade policy as well as the future of its foreign trade relations with previous major partners. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. OI179029: Srbija u savremenim međunarodnim odnosima: Strateški pravci razvoja i učvršćivanja položaja Srbije u međunarodnim integrativnim procesima – spoljnopolitički, međunarodni, ekonomski, pravni i bezbednosni aspekti]

Keywords

• European Union
• foreign trade policy
• Common Trade Policy
• Stabilization and Association Agreement
• CEFTA