| UK ambassador: Time to implement SAA |
| 23 October 2009 | 09:42
| Source:
B92 |
BELGRADE --
UK Ambassador to Serbia Stephen Wordsworth says that his country believes that it is time for implementation of Serbia’s agreements with the EU to begin.
 | Stephen Wordsworth (Tanjug, archive)
|
He said that both the Interim Trade Agreement and the Stabilization and Association Agreement should begin implementation, adding that Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz’s upcoming report on Serbia’s cooperation with the court could be a first step in that direction.
Brammertz is expected to submit his report in early November.
Even though the majority of EU member-states, the UK included, support the unfreezing of Serbia’s European integration, the Interim Trade Agreement remains frozen because of Holland.
“I think that the next phase is the visit of Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz. I hope and expect, based on what I have heard, that he will write a very positive report (for Serbia). I hope that he will do that,” Wordsworth said.
“We will see what will happen then, when the report is presented to the Security Council and the European Union. I hope that it will be enough and that Serbia will move ahead. We want Serbia to progress. Serbia has a lot to offer, we want to see it progress and enter the next phase,” he said.
Discussing relations between the UK and Serbia, Wordsworth said that Serbian membership of NATO was not a condition for EU membership, adding that the UK was content with cooperation between Serbia and NATO through the Partnership for Peace.
Commenting on the new concept of European security discussed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during his recent visit to Belgrade, Wordsworth told B92 that this could not be discussed until the details were learned.
“It is absolutely true that the security challenges are too great for a small group of countries. That is why NATO is dealing with that problem, so is the European Union and the OSCE. I do not know the details of the Russian president’s proposal, and I am not sure that the details have even been defined yet, but if a system is being proposed that can add to the existing framework, and if it can enable more effective control of some security threats, we will definitely consider it,” he said.
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