"Structural reforms, fiscal consolidation vital"

"Structural reforms, fiscal consolidation vital"

Danielsson said that the European Union is ready to help Serbia on its path towards full membership by also defining clear priorities for using pre-accession funds and other instruments of support, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

At the invitation of the European Policy Centre in Brussels, Krstić also took part in a public debate on the formal start of Serbia's EU accession talks.

"We have often had an ambivalent relationship to the EU in the past. Big words have been said, but there has been too little action. We are at a point of no return on our path towards the EU. In the wake of the elections, we have a unique, historic opportunity to complete the task of joining the EU," Krstić said.

"To complete that task, we must form a good government, with competent people in the posts where significant decisions are made. Those people must be capable of implementing the laws we will pass," the statement quoted Krstić as saying at a panel discussion in Brussels.