"Serbia must enter EU as soon as possible"

What can I say, the EU is beginning to crack. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain have serious economic problems and may choose to leave the euro.

http://tinyurl.com/ye53ca5
http://tinyurl.com/yctyjb9
http://tinyurl.com/ye3l47w

Serbia with visa free travel and the free trade agreement has everything it needs.

Also, I should mention that everyone holding a new Serbian passport can enter Romania visa free. There are no restrictions there.

Serbia must enter EU as soon as possible"

Absolutely, as soon as you surrender Mladic, recognize Kosovo, and leave BiH alone.
(Mirub Jager, 14 December 2009 17:32)

Too bad for you that nobody listens to you.

Look at the backlash in britain now that eu laws are finally kicking in.Now people are starting to finally understand what kind of totalatarian entity this is.God bless my sovereign nation of Serbia.

'Montenegro and Macedonia will probably join the EU before Serbia.'

Albania's also ahead of Serbia.

Top, I will give you the example of belarus. the country has been BOOMING in terms of economic growth. At the same time, why not look at eastern european countries in the EU and how they are suffering/bankrupt. You know, the baltics, bulgaria, hungary, etc...


This is just DS paraonoia that we will suffer if we are not in the EU. Quite to the contrary, the later we join the better.

@Zoran. Agree with you! No use to enter the EU. Switzerland and Norway are no members and doing very well economically. Free travel and free trade are enough. Serbia should be another non-EU member, it will be better to stay outside, have all the benefits and still will not be ruled from Brussels.

"Serbia must enter EU as soon as possible"

Absolutely, as soon as you surrender Mladic, recognize Kosovo, and leave BiH alone.

Albania's also ahead of Serbia.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 18:33)

Hilarious! Looks like the soothsayers are out in force today.

@Mircea. As of the 19th of December they are allowed! Or you don't read newspapers or so? Please inform yourself before reacting here!

I do not think that Serbia will be the 30th Member State of the EU. Montenegro and Macedonia will probably join the EU before Serbia.
(Mircea, 14 December 2009 17:07)

You are right. Definitely Montenegro before Serbia.

That is easy. Surrender Mladic, Recognize Kosovo, leave BiH alone.

It will be a long time before Serbia joins the EU. Croatia and Iceland will join and then the EU will discuss if the can exapand anymore. Then they'll say the Serbia has to prosecute war criminals. Then they will say that reform has to be sped up. Then the EU will say someting like there is too much corruption (and they'll probably be right but they wont acknowledge that the same is happening in the EU already). Also they'll say that the Kosovo issue needs to be resolved. They'll do all this so that their companies and citizens can get into Serbia and buy up their real estate and take their earnings out of Serbia but Serbs won't be able to do the same. Then they'll demand the de-Serbianisation of Serbia.

Is it worth it???

I wouldn't dismiss joining EU altogether.
Still, I don't think they should be rushing things too much.
If for no other reason then to be well prepared for such a move.
"Serbia should joing EU as soon as possible".
If tommorow is possible, we should join tommorow?
But, that would be very bad for Serbia (to enter unprepared, although EU membership would not neccessarily be bad).
Serbia should create conditions to be able to join EU first.
Then join when is ready, and when such move would yield maximum benefit for Serbia.

"Look at the backlash in britain now that eu laws are finally kicking in.Now people are starting to finally understand what kind of totalatarian entity this is.God bless my sovereign nation of Serbia.
(Dragoslav, 14 December 2009 23:21)"

Finally kicking in? What backlash? There is nothing new about discontent with the EU by some.

I wonder if there are any people who commented here have a real clue of what is going on in the EU. Childish reactions of who will be first or second. The EU will not anymore decide only on economic prospectives. It is mainly a political issue. And it means very simple that probably (but not sure) Croatia will be the first to join, shortly followed by Serbia AND Montenegro. The EU will never allow both countries who were one, before a shortwhile ago, to enter not together! Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia, sorry that will at least last 5-7 years more.
And not even to speak about Kosovo

If Croatia becomes the 29th EU member-state, Serbia wants to be the 30th, "either alone or with others", Đelić was quoted as saying.

I do not think that Serbia will be the 30th Member State of the EU. Montenegro and Macedonia will probably join the EU before Serbia.

Zoran,
Since when are Serbian citizens allowed to travel without a visa to Romania?
(Mircea, 14 December 2009 18:24)
--
Mircea, from the 19th of December, anyone holding a new Serbian passport will have access to the Schengen zone and Romania. I checked with my contact at the Romanian embassy in Belgrade and it was confirmed.

FYROM will not be joining the EU with the name "Macedonia" as Macedonia is Greece. It will join about the same time as Albania and Turkey (i.e. never) unless it changes its name.

Anyway, I'd be happy for Serbia to remain out of the EU. Now that we have visa free travel and the free trade agreement, there are no more benfits to Serbia (as a country).

Unfortunately, I think Serbia is on the fast-track to membership.

Good to see that Serbia has great politicians like this guy who know what should be the highest priorities for Serbia as a country, for the future, for the citizens! And that's only the integration into the EU. European countries which are not members will have many problems. And don't come with the example of Switzerland, please - even they informally joined the Schengen zone...

Zoran,

Since when are Serbian citizens allowed to travel without a visa to Romania?

The Euro is a powerful and stable currency. The Eurozone will continue to expand.

Estonia will adopt the Euro in 2011. Iceland also wants to adopt the Euro. My country, Romania, will adopt the Euro in 2014-2015.

Denmark, Sweden and the UK should also adopt the Euro.

'Albania's also ahead of Serbia.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 18:33)

Hilarious! Looks like the soothsayers are out in force today.
(Aleks, 14 December 2009 21:46) '

No, really: The final country to ratify Albania's SAA (Greece) did so last January and Albania has already applied for EU membership.

Also, the World Economic Forum report on global competitiveness issued in Sept. ( http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm ) shows Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.

Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)
--
Tell me then, why didn't Albania get visa free travel?

Aleks,

Based upon your knowledge of the EU accession process, tell us in what year you think Serbia will join the EU.

Lazar,

Belarus is an isolated country with an authoritarian regime.

@Amer: Ease of Doing busines, Kosovo 113, Serbia 88; Trading accros Borders: Kosovo: 132, Serbia 136
Starting a business, Kosovo 136, Serbia 73; Protecting investors Kosovo 172, Serbia 43; Getting Credit Kosovo 43, Serbia 4;
On many, but not all terrains Serbia is leading by far according to the World Bank yearly report that is leading in the World.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/EconomyRankings/?direction=Asc&sort=0

Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)
--
Tell me then, why didn't Albania get visa free travel?
(Zoran, 15 December 2009 10:08)

I can tell you when Albania get SAA ratified by all countries and its application for candidate status accepted...if you want.
Serbia will be one of the last to get in, it has two fugitives still in the nature, legal cases in process with all its neighbours and a deep negative economic growth...

Lazar,

you really think that, of all countries, Belarus is a good example for Serbia to decide which way to go for the future? A country that is totally dependent from Russia, only being saved from bankruptcy by loans and artificially lowered prices for energy and other products imported from Russia?

Interesting opinion, indeed...

Also, the World Economic Forum report on global competitiveness issued in Sept. ( [link] ) shows Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)

Угу. While the leaders of that list are not questioned, the rest of it is sometimes hard to understand.

- Paraguay is #124, Côte d’Ivoire is 116. One is essentially a quiet and pleasant "outlet" of Argentine, the other is a black hole.

- Kazakhstan is #67, Latvia is #68. No comment.

- Gambia is #81, Argentina is #85. An other "no comment".

Explanation: this is not about the quality of life in that country or human development index or how good is the business there. We see that Nigeria (with most of it's "business" being related to 419) is in the same group with Armenia (it can't be THAT bad in Armenia!).

It's probably a series of ad-hoc criteria.

I did not overlook the countries the present are interested the most. I just wanted to present some countries no one here has closer association with, to avoid emotions. IMO, that list is just pulled out of ***

You're right, it's not about the quality of life, it's about how easy it is to do business.
(Amer, 15 December 2009 17:46)

OK, that why USA is #2 than?
It fully deserves to be pretty close to the bottom because of banks restricting much business with idiotic account restrictions. In many cases getting a credit card is easier than opening a bank account.

Patriot Act was intent for a different reason - but many banks abuse it to ban anyone who is not residing in the States. This kind of application is essentially illegal - wonder, when the government will help us. At least, they (US government) do apply pressure to the banks if the customer does complain. Unfortunately, it is always on the case-by-case basis and a big pain.

'Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)
--
Tell me then, why didn't Albania get visa free travel?
(Zoran, 15 December 2009 10:08) '

No biometric passports, no integrated border management. They're predicted to have the visa-free travel by next summer.

"Explanation: this is not about the quality of life in that country or human development index or how good is the business there.

...

It's probably a series of ad-hoc criteria.

(Ataman, 15 December 2009 14:12)

You're right, it's not about the quality of life, it's about how easy it is to do business.

For example (on a scale of 1 to 133, with 1 - Switzerland - being the best):

Factor no. Factor description
1.14 Organized crime

6.06 No. of procedures required to start a business
6.07 Time required to start a business

7.06 Pay and productivity
7.07 Reliance on professional management
7.08 Brain drain

8.06 Strength of investor protection

12.06 Availability of scientists and engineers
12.07 Utility patents


Albania Serbia
1.14 86 109

6.06 26 99
6.07 20 65

7.06 19 66
7.07 90 118
7.08 101 132

8.06 14 55

12.06 115 77
12.07 90 67

The fact that Albania was the fastest-growing economy in Europe last year suggests these rankings aren't just pulled out of thin air.

Ataman "why is US no. 2?"

'Switzerland tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010. The United States falls one place to second position, with weakening in its financial markets and macroeconomic stability. ' http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm

Oh, well, better luck next year (as we Red Sox fans say).

As for your problem in opening an account, they're probably nervous about dealing with a potential Osama bin Laden. Why didn't you do it when you were living in the States??

'@Amer: Ease of Doing busines, Kosovo 113, Serbia 88; Trading accros Borders: Kosovo: 132, Serbia 136
Starting a business, Kosovo 136, Serbia 73; Protecting investors Kosovo 172, Serbia 43; Getting Credit Kosovo 43, Serbia 4;
On many, but not all terrains Serbia is leading by far according to the World Bank yearly report that is leading in the World.

[link]
(Frans, 15 December 2009 23:26) '

Thanks for the link. True, Serbia's overall score is much better, but still, Kosovo is ahead in 4 of 11 categories. (BTW, in this scale the "worst" value is 188.)

4 - Employing workers: Kosovo 34, Serbia 94
5 - Registering property: Kosovo 68, Serbia 105
8 - Paying taxes: Kosovo 50, Serbia 136
11 - Closing a business: Kosovo 28, Serbia 102.

Kosovo isn't doing badly. It's advantage is that it is receiving the benefit of EU tutoring - the Swedes came in to help them set up the tax system, for instance, one area where they are far ahead.

From the progress that Albania has made relative to Serbia it's clear that this assistance can be very useful - at one time, the two countries would not have been in the same league.

"Serbia must enter EU as soon as possible"

Absolutely, as soon as you surrender Mladic, recognize Kosovo, and leave BiH alone.

That is easy. Surrender Mladic, Recognize Kosovo, leave BiH alone.

If Croatia becomes the 29th EU member-state, Serbia wants to be the 30th, "either alone or with others", Đelić was quoted as saying.

I do not think that Serbia will be the 30th Member State of the EU. Montenegro and Macedonia will probably join the EU before Serbia.

Zoran,

Since when are Serbian citizens allowed to travel without a visa to Romania?

The Euro is a powerful and stable currency. The Eurozone will continue to expand.

Estonia will adopt the Euro in 2011. Iceland also wants to adopt the Euro. My country, Romania, will adopt the Euro in 2014-2015.

Denmark, Sweden and the UK should also adopt the Euro.

'Montenegro and Macedonia will probably join the EU before Serbia.'

Albania's also ahead of Serbia.

Aleks,

Based upon your knowledge of the EU accession process, tell us in what year you think Serbia will join the EU.

I do not think that Serbia will be the 30th Member State of the EU. Montenegro and Macedonia will probably join the EU before Serbia.
(Mircea, 14 December 2009 17:07)

You are right. Definitely Montenegro before Serbia.

'Albania's also ahead of Serbia.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 18:33)

Hilarious! Looks like the soothsayers are out in force today.
(Aleks, 14 December 2009 21:46) '

No, really: The final country to ratify Albania's SAA (Greece) did so last January and Albania has already applied for EU membership.

Also, the World Economic Forum report on global competitiveness issued in Sept. ( http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm ) shows Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.

Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)
--
Tell me then, why didn't Albania get visa free travel?
(Zoran, 15 December 2009 10:08)

I can tell you when Albania get SAA ratified by all countries and its application for candidate status accepted...if you want.
Serbia will be one of the last to get in, it has two fugitives still in the nature, legal cases in process with all its neighbours and a deep negative economic growth...

Lazar,

Belarus is an isolated country with an authoritarian regime.

What can I say, the EU is beginning to crack. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain have serious economic problems and may choose to leave the euro.

http://tinyurl.com/ye53ca5
http://tinyurl.com/yctyjb9
http://tinyurl.com/ye3l47w

Serbia with visa free travel and the free trade agreement has everything it needs.

Also, I should mention that everyone holding a new Serbian passport can enter Romania visa free. There are no restrictions there.

Serbia must enter EU as soon as possible"

Absolutely, as soon as you surrender Mladic, recognize Kosovo, and leave BiH alone.
(Mirub Jager, 14 December 2009 17:32)

Too bad for you that nobody listens to you.

It will be a long time before Serbia joins the EU. Croatia and Iceland will join and then the EU will discuss if the can exapand anymore. Then they'll say the Serbia has to prosecute war criminals. Then they will say that reform has to be sped up. Then the EU will say someting like there is too much corruption (and they'll probably be right but they wont acknowledge that the same is happening in the EU already). Also they'll say that the Kosovo issue needs to be resolved. They'll do all this so that their companies and citizens can get into Serbia and buy up their real estate and take their earnings out of Serbia but Serbs won't be able to do the same. Then they'll demand the de-Serbianisation of Serbia.

Is it worth it???

Top, I will give you the example of belarus. the country has been BOOMING in terms of economic growth. At the same time, why not look at eastern european countries in the EU and how they are suffering/bankrupt. You know, the baltics, bulgaria, hungary, etc...


This is just DS paraonoia that we will suffer if we are not in the EU. Quite to the contrary, the later we join the better.

'Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)
--
Tell me then, why didn't Albania get visa free travel?
(Zoran, 15 December 2009 10:08) '

No biometric passports, no integrated border management. They're predicted to have the visa-free travel by next summer.

"Explanation: this is not about the quality of life in that country or human development index or how good is the business there.

...

It's probably a series of ad-hoc criteria.

(Ataman, 15 December 2009 14:12)

You're right, it's not about the quality of life, it's about how easy it is to do business.

For example (on a scale of 1 to 133, with 1 - Switzerland - being the best):

Factor no. Factor description
1.14 Organized crime

6.06 No. of procedures required to start a business
6.07 Time required to start a business

7.06 Pay and productivity
7.07 Reliance on professional management
7.08 Brain drain

8.06 Strength of investor protection

12.06 Availability of scientists and engineers
12.07 Utility patents


Albania Serbia
1.14 86 109

6.06 26 99
6.07 20 65

7.06 19 66
7.07 90 118
7.08 101 132

8.06 14 55

12.06 115 77
12.07 90 67

The fact that Albania was the fastest-growing economy in Europe last year suggests these rankings aren't just pulled out of thin air.

Good to see that Serbia has great politicians like this guy who know what should be the highest priorities for Serbia as a country, for the future, for the citizens! And that's only the integration into the EU. European countries which are not members will have many problems. And don't come with the example of Switzerland, please - even they informally joined the Schengen zone...

Look at the backlash in britain now that eu laws are finally kicking in.Now people are starting to finally understand what kind of totalatarian entity this is.God bless my sovereign nation of Serbia.

Lazar,

you really think that, of all countries, Belarus is a good example for Serbia to decide which way to go for the future? A country that is totally dependent from Russia, only being saved from bankruptcy by loans and artificially lowered prices for energy and other products imported from Russia?

Interesting opinion, indeed...

Zoran,
Since when are Serbian citizens allowed to travel without a visa to Romania?
(Mircea, 14 December 2009 18:24)
--
Mircea, from the 19th of December, anyone holding a new Serbian passport will have access to the Schengen zone and Romania. I checked with my contact at the Romanian embassy in Belgrade and it was confirmed.

FYROM will not be joining the EU with the name "Macedonia" as Macedonia is Greece. It will join about the same time as Albania and Turkey (i.e. never) unless it changes its name.

Anyway, I'd be happy for Serbia to remain out of the EU. Now that we have visa free travel and the free trade agreement, there are no more benfits to Serbia (as a country).

Unfortunately, I think Serbia is on the fast-track to membership.

@Zoran. Agree with you! No use to enter the EU. Switzerland and Norway are no members and doing very well economically. Free travel and free trade are enough. Serbia should be another non-EU member, it will be better to stay outside, have all the benefits and still will not be ruled from Brussels.

I wonder if there are any people who commented here have a real clue of what is going on in the EU. Childish reactions of who will be first or second. The EU will not anymore decide only on economic prospectives. It is mainly a political issue. And it means very simple that probably (but not sure) Croatia will be the first to join, shortly followed by Serbia AND Montenegro. The EU will never allow both countries who were one, before a shortwhile ago, to enter not together! Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia, sorry that will at least last 5-7 years more.
And not even to speak about Kosovo

@Mircea. As of the 19th of December they are allowed! Or you don't read newspapers or so? Please inform yourself before reacting here!

Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)
--
Tell me then, why didn't Albania get visa free travel?

"Look at the backlash in britain now that eu laws are finally kicking in.Now people are starting to finally understand what kind of totalatarian entity this is.God bless my sovereign nation of Serbia.
(Dragoslav, 14 December 2009 23:21)"

Finally kicking in? What backlash? There is nothing new about discontent with the EU by some.

Albania's also ahead of Serbia.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 18:33)

Hilarious! Looks like the soothsayers are out in force today.

Ataman "why is US no. 2?"

'Switzerland tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010. The United States falls one place to second position, with weakening in its financial markets and macroeconomic stability. ' http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm

Oh, well, better luck next year (as we Red Sox fans say).

As for your problem in opening an account, they're probably nervous about dealing with a potential Osama bin Laden. Why didn't you do it when you were living in the States??

I wouldn't dismiss joining EU altogether.
Still, I don't think they should be rushing things too much.
If for no other reason then to be well prepared for such a move.
"Serbia should joing EU as soon as possible".
If tommorow is possible, we should join tommorow?
But, that would be very bad for Serbia (to enter unprepared, although EU membership would not neccessarily be bad).
Serbia should create conditions to be able to join EU first.
Then join when is ready, and when such move would yield maximum benefit for Serbia.

'@Amer: Ease of Doing busines, Kosovo 113, Serbia 88; Trading accros Borders: Kosovo: 132, Serbia 136
Starting a business, Kosovo 136, Serbia 73; Protecting investors Kosovo 172, Serbia 43; Getting Credit Kosovo 43, Serbia 4;
On many, but not all terrains Serbia is leading by far according to the World Bank yearly report that is leading in the World.

[link]
(Frans, 15 December 2009 23:26) '

Thanks for the link. True, Serbia's overall score is much better, but still, Kosovo is ahead in 4 of 11 categories. (BTW, in this scale the "worst" value is 188.)

4 - Employing workers: Kosovo 34, Serbia 94
5 - Registering property: Kosovo 68, Serbia 105
8 - Paying taxes: Kosovo 50, Serbia 136
11 - Closing a business: Kosovo 28, Serbia 102.

Kosovo isn't doing badly. It's advantage is that it is receiving the benefit of EU tutoring - the Swedes came in to help them set up the tax system, for instance, one area where they are far ahead.

From the progress that Albania has made relative to Serbia it's clear that this assistance can be very useful - at one time, the two countries would not have been in the same league.

Also, the World Economic Forum report on global competitiveness issued in Sept. ( [link] ) shows Albania leading Serbia in a number of areas with an overall score that is essentially the same.
(Amer, 14 December 2009 23:25)

Угу. While the leaders of that list are not questioned, the rest of it is sometimes hard to understand.

- Paraguay is #124, Côte d’Ivoire is 116. One is essentially a quiet and pleasant "outlet" of Argentine, the other is a black hole.

- Kazakhstan is #67, Latvia is #68. No comment.

- Gambia is #81, Argentina is #85. An other "no comment".

Explanation: this is not about the quality of life in that country or human development index or how good is the business there. We see that Nigeria (with most of it's "business" being related to 419) is in the same group with Armenia (it can't be THAT bad in Armenia!).

It's probably a series of ad-hoc criteria.

I did not overlook the countries the present are interested the most. I just wanted to present some countries no one here has closer association with, to avoid emotions. IMO, that list is just pulled out of ***

@Amer: Ease of Doing busines, Kosovo 113, Serbia 88; Trading accros Borders: Kosovo: 132, Serbia 136
Starting a business, Kosovo 136, Serbia 73; Protecting investors Kosovo 172, Serbia 43; Getting Credit Kosovo 43, Serbia 4;
On many, but not all terrains Serbia is leading by far according to the World Bank yearly report that is leading in the World.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/EconomyRankings/?direction=Asc&sort=0

You're right, it's not about the quality of life, it's about how easy it is to do business.
(Amer, 15 December 2009 17:46)

OK, that why USA is #2 than?
It fully deserves to be pretty close to the bottom because of banks restricting much business with idiotic account restrictions. In many cases getting a credit card is easier than opening a bank account.

Patriot Act was intent for a different reason - but many banks abuse it to ban anyone who is not residing in the States. This kind of application is essentially illegal - wonder, when the government will help us. At least, they (US government) do apply pressure to the banks if the customer does complain. Unfortunately, it is always on the case-by-case basis and a big pain.