French President Emmanuel Macron said he regrets the lack of enthusiasm in Serbia for accession to the EU ahead of his visit to the country Thursday, Paralel.Az reports citing POLITICO.

In a letter published Thursday in Serbian media, Macron said that despite Serbia’s closeness to the EU, the prospect of the country joining the bloc “does not attract as much as it should.”

“In the background there are concerns and fatigue, especially regarding the pace of accession negotiations, but sometimes a kind of resentment and even mistrust regarding the European Union, which have their source in recent history,” Macron wrote in the letter.

“The path we proposed toward the necessary normalization preserves the essence: the possibility for Serbs to live in Kosovo while respecting the law, but not renouncing their identity or their natural ties with Serbia,” he wrote.