Đelić: EU path, Kosovo unrelated

Bozidar Djelic says that Serbia’s EU path and the ICJ initiative are in no way related. Serbia’s initiative to seek the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration had nothing to do with the Dutch “no“ to Serbia’s EU path, said the deputy prime minister. Djelic: EU path, Kosovo unrelated Speaking to B92, he said that the decision of EU ministers would not deter Serbia on its strategic path to EU membership, but that the struggle for territorial integrity and Kosovo would be a great deal harder. Even though EU member-state ambassadors in Serbia have throughout the summer repeatedly implored Serbia to reconsider going through with the initiative, the minister believes that these two issues are unrelated, as not all are leading Security Council member-states, and he said, these two forums should not be mixed up. Bozidar Djelic (FoNet, archive) Djelic: White Schengen in mid-2009 Visas for traveling to EU countries could be abolished for Serbian citizens halfway through 2009, says Bozidar Djelic. The European Commission (EC) has promised that the technical part of the job linked to visa liberalization will be finished in the spring, said the deputy prime minister, after a meeting with EC Vice-President Jacques Barrot. Prior to this, the Serbian authorities have to implement all the conditions of the Road Map established by the EC. “The EC expects the technical part of the job to be over in spring 2009, so that it can send to the EC and the member-states at political level a general readiness appraisal of certain countries for visa liberalization. That agenda corresponds to Serbia’s goal—obviously it doesn’t guarantee it—but corresponds to Serbia’s goal of securing a place on the White Schengen List next summer,” said Djelic. “That won’t be easy to do, and I can tell you straight away that further steps towards issuing our biometric passports are of key importance to our country, and I’ll be holding a meeting to assess what we’re doing in terms of issuing passports,” said the minister. He said that besides biometric passports, another element of the utmost importance was for parliament to adopt in the autumn all the necessary laws that constitute conditions for visa regime abolishment. These include laws on foreigners, data protection, asylum, and an anti-corruption agency. Djelic said that he was heartened by the fact that every Western Balkan country would be assessed separately when it came to meeting conditions. “Contrary to what’s sometimes bandied around as misinformation, there’ll be no waiting until every country reaches a certain level. It’s no secret that Serbia is leading the way, it’s no secret that only we and Macedonia now have biometric passports, and that it’s very important that Serbia won’t have to wait for all countries to reach Road Map level in order to receive the white Schengen,” said the minister. “Dialogue over visa liberalization has nothing to do with the Hague, nothing to do with the issue of unfreezing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA),” he stressed. News that visa regime abolishment is now anticipated in mid-2009 represents another postponement after Djelic himself said earlier this year that visas would be scrapped by the end of 2008.

Đelić: EU path, Kosovo unrelated

Speaking to B92, he said that the decision of EU ministers would not deter Serbia on its strategic path to EU membership, but that the struggle for territorial integrity and Kosovo would be a great deal harder.

Even though EU member-state ambassadors in Serbia have throughout the summer repeatedly implored Serbia to reconsider going through with the initiative, the minister believes that these two issues are unrelated, as not all are leading Security Council member-states, and he said, these two forums should not be mixed up.

Đelić: White Schengen in mid-2009

Visas for traveling to EU countries could be abolished for Serbian citizens halfway through 2009, says Božidar Đelić.

The European Commission (EC) has promised that the technical part of the job linked to visa liberalization will be finished in the spring, said the deputy prime minister, after a meeting with EC Vice-President Jacques Barrot.

Prior to this, the Serbian authorities have to implement all the conditions of the Road Map established by the EC.

“The EC expects the technical part of the job to be over in spring 2009, so that it can send to the EC and the member-states at political level a general readiness appraisal of certain countries for visa liberalization. That agenda corresponds to Serbia’s goal—obviously it doesn’t guarantee it—but corresponds to Serbia’s goal of securing a place on the White Schengen List next summer,” said Đelić.

“That won’t be easy to do, and I can tell you straight away that further steps towards issuing our biometric passports are of key importance to our country, and I’ll be holding a meeting to assess what we’re doing in terms of issuing passports,” said the minister.

He said that besides biometric passports, another element of the utmost importance was for parliament to adopt in the autumn all the necessary laws that constitute conditions for visa regime abolishment.

These include laws on foreigners, data protection, asylum, and an anti-corruption agency.

Đelić said that he was heartened by the fact that every Western Balkan country would be assessed separately when it came to meeting conditions.

“Contrary to what’s sometimes bandied around as misinformation, there’ll be no waiting until every country reaches a certain level. It’s no secret that Serbia is leading the way, it’s no secret that only we and Macedonia now have biometric passports, and that it’s very important that Serbia won’t have to wait for all countries to reach Road Map level in order to receive the white Schengen,” said the minister.

“Dialogue over visa liberalization has nothing to do with the Hague, nothing to do with the issue of unfreezing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA),” he stressed.

News that visa regime abolishment is now anticipated in mid-2009 represents another postponement after Đelić himself said earlier this year that visas would be scrapped by the end of 2008.