Two chapters "could be opened by end of year"

Two chapters "could be opened by end of year"

Asked whether he is satisfied with reforms in Serbia and whether Serbia will by 2019 be ready to join the EU - as has been announced by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić's government - Kurz said that the Serbian government has approached its job ambitiously and that he will encourage it to maintain "the impressive pace of reforms."

Asked what Serbia can expect from the new EU commissioner for neighbourhod policy, Austria's Johannes Hahn, over the next five years, Kurz noted that Commissioner Hahn has made it clear during a hearing in the European Parliament that investments will be made in the EU enlargement process in the next five years.

"That means that there will be no stagnation whatsoever," he said, adding that, as a follow-up to an initiative by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a conference on the Western Balkans should be held in Austria next year.

Kurz announced that he is coming to Serbia to see the progress of post-flood recovery in Serbia on the ground, and that he will tour the projects run by Caritas and the Austrian Red Cross.

The recovery will be the main topic of discussions with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, he said, announcing that the office of Austria's envoy for integration will be established at the Austrian embassy in Belgrade.

The envoy for integration will be a contact person for all who want to move to Austria, he said, adding that Austria's support to Serbia's EU accession process and the Belgrade-Priština dialogue will be discussed during the visit.

Austria was quick to react to requests for assistance from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the wake of the floods that hit the two countries, he said.

Austrian aid teams, with more than a hundred people equipped with boats, trucks and water pumps were on the ground in Serbia, while the Vienna government earmarked EUR 540,000 for flood victims in Serbia, Kurz said.

In addition, Austrian provinces have donated more than EUR 1 million in aid to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Austria pledged EUR 3.7 million in aid at the Brussels donor conference, the Austrian foreign minister said.