President, PM meet with EP rapporteur

President, PM meet with EP rapporteur

Ahead of the alignment and voting on the resolution on Serbia's European integration in the European Parliament, McAllister and Vucic discussed the internal situation in Serbia, the dialogue in Brussels, regional cooperation and other issues relevant to Serbia's European integration.

The Serbian prime minister "informed the EP rapporteur about the economic and fiscal consolidation measures and all other steps the Serbian government is taking in view of ensuring internal and regional political and economic stability."

The meeting was attended by Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia Michael Davenport

Balanced reports

David McAllister was also received on Thursday in Belgrade by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, whom he told that he intends to submit "balanced reports on the country's progress."

Nikolic noted that it was "important to portray problems in an objective manner to make it possible to solve them quickly and efficiently."

In a meeting with McAllister, Nikolic stressed "the resolute commitment of the Serbian leadership to creating a modern, orderly state."

"We are not deviating from the European path, but there are many obstructions by those who do not want Serbia to become part of the European family, or at least do not want this government to lead us to the European Union," the Serbian president noted.

"Expressing hope that the first negotiation chapters will be opened by the end of the year," Nikolic said that "reforms are being implemented and that legal and economic stability is being established, with conditions being created for a soonest possible opening of the first chapters."

"We want to build exceptional relations with the West, but we do not want to erode the exceptional relations with the East - Russia in particular - in the process," Nikolic noted.

The Serbian president said that he "reads the rapporteur's reports attentively."

"It is very important that problems are portrayed in an objective and factual manner so that authorities can solve them quickly and efficiently," Nikolic said.

"Serbia has done much," McAllister said, noting that he will "invest maximum effort to help the country open the first chapters as soon as possible," the presidential press office said in a statement.

Chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (justice, freedom and security) are fundamental and they will be the first to be opened, McAllister said, adding that he intends to submit balanced reports on Serbia's progress.

He expressed satisfaction with the progress of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, noting that aligning Serbia's foreign policy to the EU will be a step-by-step process.

"EU ready for new members"

The EP official was in Svilajnac, central Serbia on Wednesday for the opening of a reconstructed, EU-funded kindergarten, where he said that the EU was "ready for new members - but it will take time for Serbia to be ready for EU entry."

McAllister told reporters that it was his personal opinion that 2015 is a good moment to open the first chapters in the negotiations with Serbia, but that it is up to EU member states to decide on that.

He said that in January he filed a first draft of the report on Serbia's progress, to which 222 amendments were lodged, and voiced hope that he would submit the final report proposal at the EP plenary session in March.

"This week is decisive for my report. I have come here to hear various messages from different sides that I should pass on to the EP, " McAllister said.

In the statement to reporters, McAllister said that he visited Kosovska Mitrovica in northern Kosovo on Tuesday, and talked with Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in Pristina earlier on Wednesday.

He said that he discussed many issues with Mustafa, the most important being Chapter 35 relating to the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, and described his visit to Kosovo as very successful.