Candidate status in March “uncertain”

Serbian parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic has stated that it is uncertain that Serbia will get the EU candidate status in March. She told Beta news agency that giving up on the EU pathway would be disastrous and that she would like the results of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue to enable Serbia to get the candidate status in March. Candidate status in March “uncertain” “Of course (obtaining of the candidate status in March) is uncertain. If it was certain, I would with certainty like to make both citizens and all of us happy. Of course it is uncertain, there are disputable elements,” she stressed and added that Serbia should intensify its efforts in order to become an EU member one day. “I claim that this is our official policy and I personally believe that there is no reason whatsoever to give up. We should intensify our need to get into the EU some day, which means to get the candidate status as soon as possible and I would like the results of the dialogue to go in the direction of us getting it in March,” the speaker noted. According to her, “we are closer to Europe than it is to us”. “However, Europe has its own problems. We are not Europe’s main problem. It worries about stability of euro, economic stability of its member states, therefore the third round of the EU accession is not as important to them as it is to us,” Djukic-Dejanovic stressed. Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic (Tanjug, file) “Serbia continues to respect Resolution 1244” Commenting on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, the parliament speaker said that some EU member states’ concrete request had been to allow Kosovo to take part in regional meetings as an independent state and that they had asked Serbia to agree to it. According to her, that would violate UN Security Resolution 1244. “The resolution is an international document that was passed by the UN Security Council and only this institution can change the resolution. We are obligated to respect the international document and I think that we will reach agreements regarding the issue,” she explained. Djukic-Dejanovic said that it was not realistic to expect that issues regarding closing of Serbia’s institutions in northern Kosovo would be solved so that only one side would be satisfied and that it was necessary to reach compromise. “Of course there is a part of the institutions that needs to be solved differently and that it is in accordance with the citizens’ needs, so their health, education and judiciary systems simply could function in the best possible way and those solutions are the best for the people living in northern Kosovo,” she concluded. Beta

Candidate status in March “uncertain”

“Of course (obtaining of the candidate status in March) is uncertain. If it was certain, I would with certainty like to make both citizens and all of us happy. Of course it is uncertain, there are disputable elements,” she stressed and added that Serbia should intensify its efforts in order to become an EU member one day.

“I claim that this is our official policy and I personally believe that there is no reason whatsoever to give up. We should intensify our need to get into the EU some day, which means to get the candidate status as soon as possible and I would like the results of the dialogue to go in the direction of us getting it in March,” the speaker noted.

According to her, “we are closer to Europe than it is to us”.

“However, Europe has its own problems. We are not Europe’s main problem. It worries about stability of euro, economic stability of its member states, therefore the third round of the EU accession is not as important to them as it is to us,” Đukić-Dejanović stressed.

“Serbia continues to respect Resolution 1244”

Commenting on the Belgrade-Priština dialogue, the parliament speaker said that some EU member states’ concrete request had been to allow Kosovo to take part in regional meetings as an independent state and that they had asked Serbia to agree to it.

According to her, that would violate UN Security Resolution 1244.

“The resolution is an international document that was passed by the UN Security Council and only this institution can change the resolution. We are obligated to respect the international document and I think that we will reach agreements regarding the issue,” she explained.

Đukić-Dejanović said that it was not realistic to expect that issues regarding closing of Serbia’s institutions in northern Kosovo would be solved so that only one side would be satisfied and that it was necessary to reach compromise.

“Of course there is a part of the institutions that needs to be solved differently and that it is in accordance with the citizens’ needs, so their health, education and judiciary systems simply could function in the best possible way and those solutions are the best for the people living in northern Kosovo,” she concluded.