Tusk’s visit comes as Poland prepares to take over the EU Council presidency on January 1 next year, while Belgrade reassesses its allegiances.

Historically, Serbia has been a staunch ally of Russia, and those ties have deepened since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, when NATO forces intervened to bring an end to the nearly decade-long series of ethnic conflicts.

However, despite its close relationship with Russia, Serbia has shown a keen interest in joining the EU in recent years.

While the country condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Moscow.

Serbia is among the nine European states currently in the EU’s formal accession process.

As Poland prepares for its EU presidency, Tusk seeks to determine whether it would be more advantageous for the EU to admit all nine candidate countries at once or stagger their entry.