GETTY Ivica Dačić says Serbia wants to join the EU before it falls apart

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Ivica Dačić said the EU can only find "positive moments" in the Balkans, and allowing Serbia to join would be good for Brussels. The minister was speaking at the Bled 2017 forum in Slovenia. He said: "It is important that the enlargement of the EU continues. Either we join the EU, or the EU joins us. "We remain committed to our goal - and that is full-fledged membership in the EU.

Either we join the EU, or the EU joins us Ivica Dačić

“Hopefully, we will join the EU before it falls apart.” Mr Dačić added: "I can hardly believe that all countries of the EU only joined once they have met all the criteria. “I am willing to bet that if they would once again join the Union, at least a third would not meet the criteria.” He joked that Serbia had a "threat" for the US in store should the EU not accept them.

GETTY Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel backed Serbia's bid to become an EU member

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The minister added: ”We would then demand accession to the USA. We are definitely closer than Hawaii anyway." Serbians have joked for more than a decade the "world will end" before Serbia enters the EU, but perhaps the dream is closer than ever. In April, Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel backed the Balkan nation’s bid to become a European Union member Six countries in the Western Balkan region, which is still recovering from a decade of wars and economic turmoil in the 1990s, aim to join the European Union - Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania. Mr Gabriel said Serbia, which has the biggest market, has "a good bit of work" to do to meet the requirements for EU membership, including improving transparency, governance and rule of law, and fighting corruption.