Rehn: Candidate status by end of 2009

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn says that he expects Serbia to receive EU candidate status by the end of 2009.

Izvor: Beta

Friday, 24.10.2008.

12:00

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European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn says that he expects Serbia to receive EU candidate status by the end of 2009. He said that he hoped Belgrade would respect the decision of Kosovo to be independent. Rehn: Candidate status by end of 2009 Rehn was in Warsaw, where he gave a lecture on the “2009—Year of the Balkans” EU initiative, stating that next year would be a key year for EU enlargement. “The focus of European policy in the Balkans in the next year will be Kosovo, and it is most important that EULEX begin functioning there,” Rehn said, according to Polish news agency PAP. He said that he hoped Serbia would respect the decision of Kosovo to become independent, in the interests of bolstering stability in the region, and that Kosovo would show that it was committed to democracy and maintaining multi-ethnicity. “The signatures of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina on the Stabilization and Association Agreement show that the process of EU enlargement is maybe not speeding ahead like a Eurostar or TGV train, but it is on the right track,” Rehn assured. All Balkan countries who meet the membership criteria have a chance of becoming fully-fledged members of the Union, and Croatia should be the prime example, Rehn said, adding that the problems over the Lisbon Treaty for European institutional reform should not halt enlargement. “Enlargement was not a topic of discussion during the referendum in Ireland and shouldn’t be a scapegoat of its outcome,” the commissioner said in Warsaw. Rehn met yesterday with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorskiy, who said that Poland would do everything it could to help the countries of the Balkans integrate into the EU. Olli Rehn (FoNet)

Rehn: Candidate status by end of 2009

Rehn was in Warsaw, where he gave a lecture on the “2009—Year of the Balkans” EU initiative, stating that next year would be a key year for EU enlargement.

“The focus of European policy in the Balkans in the next year will be Kosovo, and it is most important that EULEX begin functioning there,” Rehn said, according to Polish news agency PAP.

He said that he hoped Serbia would respect the decision of Kosovo to become independent, in the interests of bolstering stability in the region, and that Kosovo would show that it was committed to democracy and maintaining multi-ethnicity.

“The signatures of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina on the Stabilization and Association Agreement show that the process of EU enlargement is maybe not speeding ahead like a Eurostar or TGV train, but it is on the right track,” Rehn assured.

All Balkan countries who meet the membership criteria have a chance of becoming fully-fledged members of the Union, and Croatia should be the prime example, Rehn said, adding that the problems over the Lisbon Treaty for European institutional reform should not halt enlargement.

“Enlargement was not a topic of discussion during the referendum in Ireland and shouldn’t be a scapegoat of its outcome,” the commissioner said in Warsaw.

Rehn met yesterday with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorskiy, who said that Poland would do everything it could to help the countries of the Balkans integrate into the EU.

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