EU's Fule attends parliamentary committee session

BELGRADE EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule on Thursday in Belgrade attended a session of the Serbian Parliamentary Committee on EU Integrations. On that occasion, he told Serbian MPs that the phrasing found in a European Commission (EC) document, that refers to "territorial integrity" of Kosovo, would not be changed. EU's Fule attends parliamentary committee session When Fule met with Serbian PM Ivica Dacic earlier in the day, he "confirmed that there were no new conditions for Serbia's EU membership bid", while Dacic said Belgrade was ready to resume the dialogue with Pristina. On Wednesday, the prime minister reacted to the EC formulation by saying that it could put the Kosovo talks in jeopardy. After his meeting with Dacic, Fule today proceeded to attend the committee's session, where opposition DSS MP Slobodan Samardzic asked him whether the "Kosovo territorial integrity" sentence might be removed from the EC document - "considering that it was confusing the public and politicians here, while according to your explanation, it wasn't even necessary". To this question, Fule replied: "We will not remove that sentence because we firmly believe that territory is but one of the criteria that defines an entity as a state. Territorial integrity does not mean that something is a state." MP Ljubisa Stojmirovic of the ruling Progressives (SNS) then turned to linguistics in order to make his argument, and noted that the Serbian language had a script that was "at the same time most simple and most perfect" - referring to the rule of each sound in the language being represented by a single letter of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. "The Serbian language goes with the maxim, 'read the way it is written, write as you speak'. For this reason, I believe it would have been much better for both sides in that report of yours said that there would be no partition of Kosovo," Stojmirovic observed. The members of the committee did not quiz the EU official only on issues related to Kosovo. Opposition Democratic Party MP Gordana Comic wished to hear about the position the EU took on Serbia's new law on the central bank, which resulted in former governor Dejan Soskic resigning, while some said the legislation was damaging the bank's independence. "The message from Brussels is clear - the changes to the Law on the National Bank of Serbia go directly against this institution's Independence. All this is contrary to expectations that a candidate country should adopt, rather than distance itself from the norms of the EU. We cannot progress if the laws are not brought in line with European laws." Fule also stated that he "sincerely believed" that Serbia could start EU membership talks next year, "if it uses the opportunity presented in this year's European Commission report". The latest report by the European Commission (EC) says that Serbia's priorities for the next period should be a visible and sustainable improvement of the relations with Kosovo and continuation of internal reform, he pointed out. The EU is encouraged by the intensification of the battle against crime and corruption in Serbia in recent weeks and hopes the process will continue, he remarked and added that Serbia should speed up its reforms, especially in the judiciary, battle against corruption and crime and harmonization with legislation in the EU. When it comes to the judiciary, the EU insists on an in-depth analysis of the situation, which would be used as the basis for a new reform strategy, in order to regain the people's trust, Fule explained. Serbia is "an important country of the region", and the EU made a commitment towards it when it granted Serbia the status of a membership candidate and it will continue assisting Serbia in the efforts to complete the work ahead of it, Fule stated. This EU official also noted that Serbia had lost a lot of time in the election process last spring, and that he expected the country's efforts to continue with the goal of fulfilling the criteria for EU membership. Stefan Fule is seen attending the committee's session (Tanjug) B92 Beta Tanjug

EU's Fule attends parliamentary committee session

When Fule met with Serbian PM Ivica Dačić earlier in the day, he "confirmed that there were no new conditions for Serbia's EU membership bid", while Dačić said Belgrade was ready to resume the dialogue with Priština.

On Wednesday, the prime minister reacted to the EC formulation by saying that it could put the Kosovo talks in jeopardy.

After his meeting with Dačić, Fule today proceeded to attend the committee's session, where opposition DSS MP Slobodan Samardžić asked him whether the "Kosovo territorial integrity" sentence might be removed from the EC document - "considering that it was confusing the public and politicians here, while according to your explanation, it wasn't even necessary".

To this question, Fule replied:

"We will not remove that sentence because we firmly believe that territory is but one of the criteria that defines an entity as a state. Territorial integrity does not mean that something is a state."

MP Ljubiša Stojmirović of the ruling Progressives (SNS) then turned to linguistics in order to make his argument, and noted that the Serbian language had a script that was "at the same time most simple and most perfect" - referring to the rule of each sound in the language being represented by a single letter of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet.

"The Serbian language goes with the maxim, 'read the way it is written, write as you speak'. For this reason, I believe it would have been much better for both sides in that report of yours said that there would be no partition of Kosovo," Stojmirović observed.

The members of the committee did not quiz the EU official only on issues related to Kosovo. Opposition Democratic Party MP Gordana Čomić wished to hear about the position the EU took on Serbia's new law on the central bank, which resulted in former governor Dejan Šoškić resigning, while some said the legislation was damaging the bank's independence.

"The message from Brussels is clear - the changes to the Law on the National Bank of Serbia go directly against this institution's Independence. All this is contrary to expectations that a candidate country should adopt, rather than distance itself from the norms of the EU. We cannot progress if the laws are not brought in line with European laws."

Fule also stated that he "sincerely believed" that Serbia could start EU membership talks next year, "if it uses the opportunity presented in this year's European Commission report".

The latest report by the European Commission (EC) says that Serbia's priorities for the next period should be a visible and sustainable improvement of the relations with Kosovo and continuation of internal reform, he pointed out.

The EU is encouraged by the intensification of the battle against crime and corruption in Serbia in recent weeks and hopes the process will continue, he remarked and added that Serbia should speed up its reforms, especially in the judiciary, battle against corruption and crime and harmonization with legislation in the EU.

When it comes to the judiciary, the EU insists on an in-depth analysis of the situation, which would be used as the basis for a new reform strategy, in order to regain the people's trust, Fule explained.

Serbia is "an important country of the region", and the EU made a commitment towards it when it granted Serbia the status of a membership candidate and it will continue assisting Serbia in the efforts to complete the work ahead of it, Fule stated.

This EU official also noted that Serbia had lost a lot of time in the election process last spring, and that he expected the country's efforts to continue with the goal of fulfilling the criteria for EU membership.