Serbia's EU membership talks to start on Tuesday

BELGRADE The first Serbia-EU intergovernmental conference, marking the official start of Serbia's EU accession talks, is to be held in Brussels on Tuesday. The conference is scheduled to begin at 9 am in the European Council building, with the EU to be represented by Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and the EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule. Serbia's EU membership talks to start on Tuesday Serbia will be represented by Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. It will be a ceremony of mostly symbolic significance, Fule's spokesperson Peter Stano has told Tanjug. According to the protocol, at the conference - to be held on the fringes of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting - the EU's negotiating framework will be unveiled first, with the presentation of Serbia's negotiating platform to follow immediately afterwards. Last Friday, the Serbian government adopted as confidential an introductory statement that is to be read out at the conference. The EU's negotiating framework, adopted at a Ministerial Council meeting in late 2013, also remains undisclosed, but has been seen by Tanjug last month. It is a 25-page document consisting of three parts: the basic principles of the negotiating process, the contents of the talks and the negotiation procedure. The framework includes a description of all 35 chapters of the accession talks, with the last chapter - which deals with the process of normalizing the ties between Belgrade and Pristina - generating the most public attention. Last year, the European Council was the scene of an intense debate on Chapter 35. The final version of the framework includes a formulation that a comprehensive normalization of Serbia's ties with Kosovo should take place before the negotiating process is complete - rather than a full normalization, which Great Britain and Germany have been insisting on. Besides, the framework envisions a legally binding agreement to be signed by Belgrade and Pristina before they join the EU, which European diplomats see as a guarantee of permanent normalization, rather than as a demand for a formal recognition of Kosovo. Serbia's Minister without portfolio for Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin has announced that the screening related to Chapter 35 will be held as early as on Wednesday, January 22, with EU officials to provide a more detailed explanation of their expectations from the process aimed at normalizing the ties between Belgrade and Pristina. In 2013, Serbia successfully completed the screenings for Chapter 32 (financial control), Chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and Chapter 24 (interior affairs). Once the screening procedure is complete, the European Council will give the green light for negotiations to start on individual chapters, with the first chapters expected to be opened in September this year. As a rule, chapters related to the judiciary, the police and protection of fundamental rights are among those that are opened first, but in Serbia's case, Chapter 35 will also be added to this group. With Croatia's accession talks having lasted a total of eight years (including a two-year break due to a failure to meet obligations towards the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), after which the country joined the EU in 2013, Serbia's accession talks are expected to be completed in late 2020 at the earliest. Tanjug

Serbia's EU membership talks to start on Tuesday

Serbia will be represented by Prime Minister Ivica Dačić and First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić.

It will be a ceremony of mostly symbolic significance, Fule's spokesperson Peter Stano has told Tanjug.

According to the protocol, at the conference - to be held on the fringes of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting - the EU's negotiating framework will be unveiled first, with the presentation of Serbia's negotiating platform to follow immediately afterwards.

Last Friday, the Serbian government adopted as confidential an introductory statement that is to be read out at the conference.

The EU's negotiating framework, adopted at a Ministerial Council meeting in late 2013, also remains undisclosed, but has been seen by Tanjug last month.

It is a 25-page document consisting of three parts: the basic principles of the negotiating process, the contents of the talks and the negotiation procedure.

The framework includes a description of all 35 chapters of the accession talks, with the last chapter - which deals with the process of normalizing the ties between Belgrade and Priština - generating the most public attention.

Last year, the European Council was the scene of an intense debate on Chapter 35.

The final version of the framework includes a formulation that a comprehensive normalization of Serbia's ties with Kosovo should take place before the negotiating process is complete - rather than a full normalization, which Great Britain and Germany have been insisting on.

Besides, the framework envisions a legally binding agreement to be signed by Belgrade and Priština before they join the EU, which European diplomats see as a guarantee of permanent normalization, rather than as a demand for a formal recognition of Kosovo.

Serbia's Minister without portfolio for Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin has announced that the screening related to Chapter 35 will be held as early as on Wednesday, January 22, with EU officials to provide a more detailed explanation of their expectations from the process aimed at normalizing the ties between Belgrade and Priština.

In 2013, Serbia successfully completed the screenings for Chapter 32 (financial control), Chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and Chapter 24 (interior affairs).

Once the screening procedure is complete, the European Council will give the green light for negotiations to start on individual chapters, with the first chapters expected to be opened in September this year.

As a rule, chapters related to the judiciary, the police and protection of fundamental rights are among those that are opened first, but in Serbia's case, Chapter 35 will also be added to this group.

With Croatia's accession talks having lasted a total of eight years (including a two-year break due to a failure to meet obligations towards the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), after which the country joined the EU in 2013, Serbia's accession talks are expected to be completed in late 2020 at the earliest.