EP rapporteur: No EU talks date in 2012

BELGRADE European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin says that Serbia will not get a date for the start of the EU accession talks by the end of the year. “A date for the beginning of the negotiations certainly won’t be set this year and it will bet announced once Serbia has shown proof that it is ready to start the EU accession process,” he said after a meeting with Vojvodina assembly Speaker Istvan Pastor on Monday. EP rapporteur: No EU talks date in 2012 Serbian government's EU Integration Office Director Milan Pajevic said recently that Serbia could hope to get a date for the beginning of the EU talks by next summer, while Serbian Parliament’s European Integrations Committee member Laslo Varga believes that the country will have to wait for at least a year in order to get the date. Kacin added that “Vojvodina is Serbia’s biggest argument” on its EU pathway. Commenting on the Constitutional Court of Serbia’s decision to declare Vojvodina’s office in Brussels unconstitutional, Kacin said that it was a “crazy idea” and stressed that he did not see why Vojvodina could not have its office if cities like Nis and Kragujevac could have their own offices. He said that it was time to shut off emotions and look at the situation objectively. “This goes for Kosovo too and I expect that the new government will not look at the issue from a historically-emotional point of view,” the EP rapporteur explained. He noted that the EU had significantly increased the funds for Serbia and that more than a half of the money for the Western Balkans went to Serbia. Kacin started his three-day visit to Serbia on Monday and he will meet with Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic later today. Aside from Nikolic, Kacin will also confer with Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and other top Serbia’s officials. The EP rapporteur arrived in Serbia ahead of the visit of the EP delegation. He started the visit in Novi Sad in order to familiarize himself with one of the disputable privatizations ad he will travel to Belgrade to meet with Nikolic in the afternoon. Kacin stressed that the EP had warned Serbian officials in its latest report about some disputable privatizations and that “light should be shed on some things, not only when it comes to privatizations but also in cases when some individuals are abusing the laws”. “As always when I come here, I come as an MEP and you should not look for some special background there. We primarily want to encourage Serbia to do as much as possible on its EU pathway. Since the EP official delegation is soon coming to Serbia, I as a rapporteur for Serbia want to make an assessment of how the current government is working now and how committed it is to the EU accession,” he explained. When asked whether he would discuss the disputable privatizations with Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic, Kacin says that Serbia itself needed to work hard on combat against corruption and crime and that the EU, aside from support, could not help. Jelko Kacin (file) B92 Tanjug

EP rapporteur: No EU talks date in 2012

Serbian government's EU Integration Office Director Milan Pajević said recently that Serbia could hope to get a date for the beginning of the EU talks by next summer, while Serbian Parliament’s European Integrations Committee member Laslo Varga believes that the country will have to wait for at least a year in order to get the date.

Kacin added that “Vojvodina is Serbia’s biggest argument” on its EU pathway.

Commenting on the Constitutional Court of Serbia’s decision to declare Vojvodina’s office in Brussels unconstitutional, Kacin said that it was a “crazy idea” and stressed that he did not see why Vojvodina could not have its office if cities like Niš and Kragujevac could have their own offices.

He said that it was time to shut off emotions and look at the situation objectively.

“This goes for Kosovo too and I expect that the new government will not look at the issue from a historically-emotional point of view,” the EP rapporteur explained.

He noted that the EU had significantly increased the funds for Serbia and that more than a half of the money for the Western Balkans went to Serbia.

Kacin started his three-day visit to Serbia on Monday and he will meet with Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolić later today.

Aside from Nikolić, Kacin will also confer with Prime Minister Ivica Dačić and other top Serbia’s officials.

The EP rapporteur arrived in Serbia ahead of the visit of the EP delegation. He started the visit in Novi Sad in order to familiarize himself with one of the disputable privatizations ad he will travel to Belgrade to meet with Nikolić in the afternoon.

Kacin stressed that the EP had warned Serbian officials in its latest report about some disputable privatizations and that “light should be shed on some things, not only when it comes to privatizations but also in cases when some individuals are abusing the laws”.

“As always when I come here, I come as an MEP and you should not look for some special background there. We primarily want to encourage Serbia to do as much as possible on its EU pathway. Since the EP official delegation is soon coming to Serbia, I as a rapporteur for Serbia want to make an assessment of how the current government is working now and how committed it is to the EU accession,” he explained.

When asked whether he would discuss the disputable privatizations with Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić, Kacin says that Serbia itself needed to work hard on combat against corruption and crime and that the EU, aside from support, could not help.