Đelić: EU membership by 2014

Deputy PM Bozidar Djelic says Serbia will have to be ready for EU entry by 2012 to become a member in 2014. "If our membership is guaranteed by 2012, we would be able to enter the EU’s six-year budget cycle," Djelic said in an interview with daily Danas. Djelic: EU membership by 2014 "If we join in 2014, we’d be able to enter the European Parliament as that is an election year when all the institutional changes stemming from the Lisbon Treaty are due to come into force,” he added. Djelic said that EU integration and Kosovo were two different processes, and that international law was universal, so that in the same way “it [international law] legitimately requires Serbia to respect it when it comes to Hague cooperation, Serbia also has the right to ask the international community to respect it over the Kosovo issue,” he explained. He added that he expected Serbia to receive a positive evaluation from Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, and that a decision would be taken at the next meeting of the EU Council of Ministers in September on whether to apply the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Djelic said that the parliamentary obstruction currently being practiced by the Radicals was an attempt to destabilize democracy and a belated attempt to retailor the will of the electorate. "If the obstruction continues, we risk receiving a negative report from the European Commission in November and complications over candidate status,” he warned. “I believe citizens will support changes that would lead to parliament working more efficiently, such as changes to the Code of Procedure, strengthening its capacity, and the more appropriate application of its work,” the minister explained. Bozidar Djelic (FoNet)

Đelić: EU membership by 2014

"If we join in 2014, we’d be able to enter the European Parliament as that is an election year when all the institutional changes stemming from the Lisbon Treaty are due to come into force,” he added.

Đelić said that EU integration and Kosovo were two different processes, and that international law was universal, so that in the same way “it [international law] legitimately requires Serbia to respect it when it comes to Hague cooperation, Serbia also has the right to ask the international community to respect it over the Kosovo issue,” he explained.

He added that he expected Serbia to receive a positive evaluation from Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, and that a decision would be taken at the next meeting of the EU Council of Ministers in September on whether to apply the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA).

Đelić said that the parliamentary obstruction currently being practiced by the Radicals was an attempt to destabilize democracy and a belated attempt to retailor the will of the electorate.

"If the obstruction continues, we risk receiving a negative report from the European Commission in November and complications over candidate status,” he warned.

“I believe citizens will support changes that would lead to parliament working more efficiently, such as changes to the Code of Procedure, strengthening its capacity, and the more appropriate application of its work,” the minister explained.