"EU candidacy realistic in 2011"

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule told B92 that it was realistic to expect that Serbia would receive EU candidacy status by the end of 2011. However, he said that the date would depend on the quality of Serbia’s answers to the questions in the EC questionnaire. "EU candidacy realistic in 2011" Fule stressed that the EC intended to issue its opinion on Serbia’s candidacy in the second half of 2011. “Of course there is a wish to make the opinion a part of EU’s annual enlargement report which we’ll publish in 2011. Therefore, that’s intended but I cannot promise anything because everything will very much depend on the quality of answers that Serbia will give,” the EU enlargement commissioner pointed out. “As far as the candidate status is concerned, that’s something that depends on meeting political criteria for the membership. The purpose of the entire process is to determine to what extent Serbia is ready to implement them. Based on that assessment we give recommendation to member states to approve the candidate status and later to set up a date for the beginning of accession negotiations,” he explained. When asked about conditioning Serbia’s path toward the EU by solving the issue of Kosovo, Fule said that one needed to understand that these were two separate processes. “The first process is getting Commission’s opinion on the candidacy. This process is not connected to Kosovo, just like the process concerning the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) was not. Whenever an issue linked to Kosovo comes up it will be discussed so it is status neutral and in accordance with the Resolution 1244,” he pointed out. “The second, parallel topic is dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which is a continuation of a much-praised process which led to adoption of joint resolution in the UN General Assembly, which was proposed by 28 European countries – Serbia and all EU member states. We hope that numerous practical issues will not only be opened but also solved through this dialogue,” the EU enlargement commissioner concluded. Stefan Fule (Tanjug)

"EU candidacy realistic in 2011"

Fule stressed that the EC intended to issue its opinion on Serbia’s candidacy in the second half of 2011.

“Of course there is a wish to make the opinion a part of EU’s annual enlargement report which we’ll publish in 2011. Therefore, that’s intended but I cannot promise anything because everything will very much depend on the quality of answers that Serbia will give,” the EU enlargement commissioner pointed out.

“As far as the candidate status is concerned, that’s something that depends on meeting political criteria for the membership. The purpose of the entire process is to determine to what extent Serbia is ready to implement them. Based on that assessment we give recommendation to member states to approve the candidate status and later to set up a date for the beginning of accession negotiations,” he explained.

When asked about conditioning Serbia’s path toward the EU by solving the issue of Kosovo, Fule said that one needed to understand that these were two separate processes.

“The first process is getting Commission’s opinion on the candidacy. This process is not connected to Kosovo, just like the process concerning the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) was not. Whenever an issue linked to Kosovo comes up it will be discussed so it is status neutral and in accordance with the Resolution 1244,” he pointed out.

“The second, parallel topic is dialogue between Belgrade and Priština, which is a continuation of a much-praised process which led to adoption of joint resolution in the UN General Assembly, which was proposed by 28 European countries – Serbia and all EU member states. We hope that numerous practical issues will not only be opened but also solved through this dialogue,” the EU enlargement commissioner concluded.