Germany "not hindering Serbia on its EU path"

Germany "not hindering Serbia on its EU path"

"As a member of the European Parliament I cannot speak on behalf of the German government but I am familiar with the stand of Chancellor Angela Merkel who has recognized the importance of Serbia for the European perspective of the Western Balkans and reiterated on several occasions that she wishes the entire region to be integrated into the EU," McAllister said addressing an international conference on Serbia which was taking place at the Goethe Institute in Brussels.

The fundamental principles are embodied in the judiciary reform, public administration reform and structural reforms of the economy, McAllister said and added that he expects the first chapters in the accession talks to open soon.

He recalled that the German parliament adopted a resolution in 2014 which calls for opening Chapter 35 on the process of normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations as one of the first chapters in the accession talks.

"This does not mean that the chapter has to open first, it just means that it needs to be one of the first chapters to open in the talks," McAllister explained.

He underscored that a new round of the high-level Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, scheduled for February 9, would bear key importance for the timing of chapter opening.

The rapporteur said that he knows great expectations should not be nurtured because new delegation heads would meet for the first time on this occasion, but he expressed the hope that a significant progress in this round could accelerate the opening of chapters.

McAllister announced that he would visit Serbia in mid-February to meet with top government officials and visit areas hit by the devastating floods in 2014.

He stated that he is aware of the fact that many German voters are against the EU enlargement process, but he noted that the public is often not aware of the scope of contribution of such a process to the Union's stabilization and economic progress.

"It is our job as politicians to explain this to them," the EP rapporteur for Serbia said and noted that he has no intention of discussing this matter with representatives of the German populist right wing because, as he said, " they are not rational."

"Record number"

David McAllister said on Wednesday that a record number of amendments to his proposed resolution had been submitted, but that it would not pose a threat to Serbia's EU integration.

As many as 222 amendments have been filed, which is twice as much compared to the proposed resolutions on Montenegro and Macedonia put together, he said at an international conference on Serbia's progress held at the Goethe Institute in Brussels, organized by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Croatian members of the European Parliament filed the most amendments, seeking to impose resolution of their country's disputes with Serbia as requirements for Serbia's progress in EU integration, but there are also amendments from Hungarian, Bulgarian and Romanian members, who want a better status for their national minorities in Serbia.

The most important thing is that no one is denying Serbia's progress in EU integration, nor demanding that the door of the EU be closed to the country, McAllister underscored, adding that the amendments were not meant to change the general tone of the resolution, but simply introduce a number of details.

Former EU commissioner Stefan Fule commented that the principle of avoiding to set bilateral issues as requirements for EU integration had been ignored before, like when Greece blocked Macedonia's progress over a dispute about Macedonia's name, and when Slovenia halted Croatia's integration over the Gulf of Piran.

Unfortunately, it was perfectly easy to predict that Croatia would use its EU membership to pressure Serbia, he remarked.

Croatian Ambassador to Belgium Mario Nobilo claimed that Croatia's amendments were not about bilateral issues, but about respecting basic European values.

We want to see Serbia in the EU, but we expect that it will undergo the same catharsis as Croatia during its accession talks, he said, adding that the requests by Croatian MEPs referring to missing persons, facing the past, correction of the border on the Danube River and return of the church-related cultural heritage are in line with the European norms.

Srdjan Majstorovic, deputy head of the Serbian government's EU Integration Office, noted that the Croatian parliament passed a resolution last year pledging that it will not hinder Serbia in the EU integration process by means of bilateral issues.

"I am certain that Croatian representatives in the EU will respect this resolution," Majstorovic underlined.

The 222 amendments to the draft resolution on Serbia's progress will be discussed at the session of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee late in February, and it will be put to the vote at the plenary session of the EP in Strasbourg in March.