"Serbia to apply for EU candidate status"

The chairwoman of the MFA's Foreign Policy Council believes that Serbia could apply for EU candidate status this year. However, Sonja Liht told FoNet news agency in an interview on Saturday that it will only be the start of "a big job", since should the EU accept the application, it will send a list of "some 2,500 questions" that should then be answered "as soon possible". "Serbia to apply for EU candidate status" Liht reminded that neighboring Macedonia applied for candidate status in 2005 but that accession talks between Skopje and Brussels never started. For this reason, she believes, only once the EU accepts the bid, a country is "irreversibly" on the road toward the union. "I hope we will submit the candidature relatively soon and that we will open up all the issues. Perhaps it will take less time for us, since the administrative possibilities are good," Liht was quoted as saying. She commended the work of the EU Integration Office, and criticized that of parliament and MPs. "It is not understood here how incredibly important the work on the new [parliamentary] code of procedure is for EU integrations," said Liht. Asked to comment on a recent invitation to the EU to send a monitoring mission to make sure Serbia is doing everything to arrest the remaining Hague fugitives, she said that she "does not see this a way to circumvent Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, or the tribunal itself – on the contrary". Liht also stated that Holland's position on Serbia's EU integration could become more moderate "if other EU member states pressured it". Meanwhile, former head of the government's EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic believes that implementation of the suspended SAA between Brussels and Belgrade should come first. "Technically it is possible for Serbia to apply for EU membership even before the SAA takes effect, but it is not politically wise," Miscevic warned in an interview for Novi Sad daily Dnevnik.

"Serbia to apply for EU candidate status"

Liht reminded that neighboring Macedonia applied for candidate status in 2005 but that accession talks between Skopje and Brussels never started. For this reason, she believes, only once the EU accepts the bid, a country is "irreversibly" on the road toward the union.

"I hope we will submit the candidature relatively soon and that we will open up all the issues. Perhaps it will take less time for us, since the administrative possibilities are good," Liht was quoted as saying.

She commended the work of the EU Integration Office, and criticized that of parliament and MPs.

"It is not understood here how incredibly important the work on the new [parliamentary] code of procedure is for EU integrations," said Liht.

Asked to comment on a recent invitation to the EU to send a monitoring mission to make sure Serbia is doing everything to arrest the remaining Hague fugitives, she said that she "does not see this a way to circumvent Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, or the tribunal itself – on the contrary".

Liht also stated that Holland's position on Serbia's EU integration could become more moderate "if other EU member states pressured it".

Meanwhile, former head of the government's EU Integration Office Tanja Miščević believes that implementation of the suspended SAA between Brussels and Belgrade should come first.

"Technically it is possible for Serbia to apply for EU membership even before the SAA takes effect, but it is not politically wise," Miščević warned in an interview for Novi Sad daily Dnevnik.