As OSCE chair, "Serbia should back EU efforts"

As OSCE chair, "Serbia should back EU efforts"

"This is not about the EU urging Serbia to back the territorial integrity of Ukraine, because that is Serbia's state policy," Davenport said on Monday at a press conference called to present an opinion poll about EU integrations.

He noted that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic have clearly said that Serbia fully supports Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"We want Serbia, as an EU candidate country, to back the EU efforts towards a resolution of the Ukrainian crisis," Davenport explained.

Opening of the first chapter in the negotiations with the EU depends on the progress in the implementation of the Brussels agreement, and the European Commission has recommended that one of the first chapters to be opened should be chapter 32, which concerns public finances, Davenport noted.

He said that the German parliament's position was "known" - i.e., it insists that chapters 23 and 24 (fundamental rights, justice, the fight against corruption) and 35 (Kosovo) should be opened first.

The EU officials said he did not know when the first chapter will be opened. When asked it this was conditioned "by the status of Kosovo, changes to the constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and support for sanctions against Russia," he replied:

"It is now up to the member states to decide which chapters will be opened...There has been some progress in relations between Belgrade and Pristina, but we cannot talk about full implementation. I think there is political will in Belgrade and Pristina, while the political situation in Pristina has not allowed for a renewal of the political dialogue on the highest level."

Asked if the EU intended to mediate in the dispute between the state and Serbia's striking lawyers - who traveled to Brussels to ask for assistance there - Davenport said a solution was urgently needed, because "citizens must have access to justice," and that he said personally that it was not the role of the delegation to mediate in the dispute.

Asked whether the government should act on the resolution of the European Parliament and distance itself from the statements of Radicals' leader Vojislav Seselj, Davenport said that this was about a decision of the International Tribunal in The Hague.

"I think it's clear that the opinions of Seselj are part of Serbia's past and it is clear that this is also the position of the government of Serbia," he said, adding that ministers Nebojsa Stefanovic and Ivica Dacic both said the same.

He also stressed that the EU supports Serbia on its path towards full membership, but also on the road to reconciliation in the region and regional cooperation.

This, Davenport added, is a clear policy of the government of Serbia.

"Prosperity, employment opportunities"

More than half of Serbian citizens would vote to join the European Union if a referendum on the EU accession of Serbia was held today, while 28 percent would be against it, according to an opinion poll conducted for the EU Delegation to Serbia by Medium Gallup, a privately-owned market research and public opinion polling company.

Such a referendum would see 70 percent of the citizens expecting a better life from EU accession, and also the beginning of negotiations in January 2015, according to the survey.

The survey was conducted on September 24 to 30 and found that 57 percent of citizens supported Serbia's membership of the EU, and the reasons most frequently cited by the respondents were economic - a better future, prosperity (42 percent), better standard of living (41 percent), and better employment opportunities (32 percent).

The survey also showed that the citizens view the EU in a more positive light than before, with 47 percent of the surveyed people saying that their position on the issue was “generally positive,” while in surveys conducted by 2014, also done for the EU Delegation, the support did not exceed 35 percent.