Serbia will be absent when EU leaders meet their Western Balkan counterparts on Wednesday evening to discuss enlargement after President Aleksandar Vučić said late Tuesday that his country would not attend.

“For the first time in the last 13 or 14 years, neither I nor anyone else will go to that intergovernmental conference. No one will represent the Republic of Serbia, so the Western Balkans will be without the Republic of Serbia,” Vučić told Serbian media.

The Serbian president called it a personal decision, arguing that “by doing this, I believe I am protecting the Republic of Serbia and its interests, because we need to show what we have achieved.”

Serbia has made little progress in its bid to join the EU, despite being granted candidate status in 2012. No major accession milestones have been reached since 2021.

Vučić’s decision follows a dinner meeting in Brussels on Dec. 10 with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, where Vučić said he proposed that all six Western Balkan countries join the EU simultaneously rather than through the standard step-by-step accession process.

Serbia has long maintained close ties with Russia, rooted in historical, cultural and religious connections as well as close economic cooperation; Serbia relies on Moscow for gas supplies. Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Serbia has faced growing pressure to distance itself from Moscow but has resisted imposing sanctions, instead seeking to balance its ties with Russia and the European Union.

Serbian Minister for European Integration Nemanja Starović issued a statement backing Vučić’s decision, accusing the EU of a “short-sighted lack of willingness” to recognize Serbia’s reforms and make progress in the accession process — a stance he said sends a negative message to Serbian citizens. “This message only fuels anti-European narratives and discourages those who are driving reform processes within society,” Starović said.

Starović went on to say that Serbia’s absence defends ” the dignity of our people, but also the integrity of the accession process, as well as the credibility of the European idea in Serbia.”

Opposition politicians in Serbia criticized the decision, calling it “an attempt at emotional blackmail, because Vučić is dissatisfied that Albania and Montenegro have made progress and are likely to become the next EU member states,” said Aleksandar Radovanović, member of the Free Citizens Movement.

Pavle Grbović, a member of Serbia’s parliament also from Free Citizens Movement, said it was “a symptom of profound political cowardice and an attempt to evade uncomfortable questions and messages.”

POLITICO contacted the European Council for comment but did not receive a reply.