“Candidate status decision only postponed”

Serbian Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Council President Sonja Liht says the EU has not rejected Serbia’s EU candidacy but only postponed the decision. She told B92 that she expected Serbia’s progress to be assessed in March and that the European Council would make a recommendation to grant Serbia the EU candidate status without any special discussion. “Candidate status decision only postponed” “It is interesting that all of our media have concluded that Montenegro has received a conditional date (for the beginning of the accession talks) and that our candidacy has been rejected and that kind of reporting, not only by the media, is for me an expression of a funny psychosis that Serbia lives in and which worries me. That’s a psychosis of a permanently empty glass. We claim in advance that we have lost something even though we de facto haven’t lost it. It is true that we did not get the candidacy but nobody has told us ‘you will not get the candidacy now, you will wait form the next period’,” Liht explained. She said that she did not know what German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is visiting German troops in Kosovo on Monday, and Kosovo Albanian officials would talk about but stressed she was sure that one of the topics would be Belgrade-Pristina relations and the future of the dialogue. “I don’t know what would be publicly said and what would be said behind the closed door but I believe that she will request a serious approach to the continuation of the dialogue, the same that is being asked from us,” Liht said. Commenting on EU conditions, she said that there were numerous interpretations. She stressed that both the Serbian political elite and the different EU countries were responsible for the confusion. “What’s important for us to understand is that European integration is important to us. The message that is being sent is that Serbia is a serious, stable country, that the EU will give it the EU candidate status and open the negotiations by the end of next year,” Liht added. The Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Council president pointed out that a country that had the EU candidate status “is much less exposed to risks of questioning its visa-free regime”. She also said that the EU candidate status would solve the issue of border security and the asylum seekers issue. Liht added that the number of false asylum seekers from Serbia was increasing with “geometric progression”. “It’s not a solution to expel them, we are a member of the UN, we cannot act contrary to the EU and UN standards. If we want to be a part of all organizations and integrations we need to respect the standards, above all every individual’s human rights. Europe is helping us with that financially and with knowledge,” she noted. Sonja Liht (Tanjug, file)

“Candidate status decision only postponed”

“It is interesting that all of our media have concluded that Montenegro has received a conditional date (for the beginning of the accession talks) and that our candidacy has been rejected and that kind of reporting, not only by the media, is for me an expression of a funny psychosis that Serbia lives in and which worries me. That’s a psychosis of a permanently empty glass. We claim in advance that we have lost something even though we de facto haven’t lost it. It is true that we did not get the candidacy but nobody has told us ‘you will not get the candidacy now, you will wait form the next period’,” Liht explained.

She said that she did not know what German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is visiting German troops in Kosovo on Monday, and Kosovo Albanian officials would talk about but stressed she was sure that one of the topics would be Belgrade-Priština relations and the future of the dialogue.

“I don’t know what would be publicly said and what would be said behind the closed door but I believe that she will request a serious approach to the continuation of the dialogue, the same that is being asked from us,” Liht said.

Commenting on EU conditions, she said that there were numerous interpretations.

She stressed that both the Serbian political elite and the different EU countries were responsible for the confusion.

“What’s important for us to understand is that European integration is important to us. The message that is being sent is that Serbia is a serious, stable country, that the EU will give it the EU candidate status and open the negotiations by the end of next year,” Liht added.

The Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Council president pointed out that a country that had the EU candidate status “is much less exposed to risks of questioning its visa-free regime”.

She also said that the EU candidate status would solve the issue of border security and the asylum seekers issue.

Liht added that the number of false asylum seekers from Serbia was increasing with “geometric progression”.

“It’s not a solution to expel them, we are a member of the UN, we cannot act contrary to the EU and UN standards. If we want to be a part of all organizations and integrations we need to respect the standards, above all every individual’s human rights. Europe is helping us with that financially and with knowledge,” she noted.