Serbia needs more time, Slovenian officials say

Serbia needs more time to prepare for signing the political deal with the EU, says the Slovenian EU presidency. The presidency said that Serbia needed more time to carry out all the necessary internal procedures that would allow it to sign the temporary political agreement with the EU, and expressed the hope that these would be complete in the next few days. Serbia needs more time, Slovenian officials say Meanwhile, statements continue to fly back and forth between the two opposing sides within the government over who should convene first – the government or parliament. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic had been due to travel to Brussels today to put pen to paper on the agreement that the EU had offered Serbia, after certain member-states had blocked the signature of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. However, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn postponed the ceremony, because, as he put it, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was hampering the signing process. In the meantime, according to the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS), even if the signing had not been deferred, Djelic would not have been authorized to sign the document. As a result, the deputy prime minister will neither be in Brussels today, nor will he or any other minister be attending any cabinet meeting. As it had become clear yesterday that the cabinet would not be able to meet in time to give him the mandate to conclude the deal in Brussels, Rehn took it upon himself to postpone the event. Rehn reiterated that Kostunica had recently asked him to push Serbia’s integration process forward, and not to link EU matters and Kosovo. He felt that Serbia should sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and said that he would propose it again at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on February 18. Meanwhile, G17 Plus leader and Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said that neither he nor President Boris Tadic would ever give up on European integration because, as he put it, they did not wish to wrap Serbia’s citizens in black. “I put this question to you: if everyone around us is in the EU, if all our citizens want to travel, are we going to prohibit them? Are we going to prohibit Partizan from playing Panathinaikos? It’s irrational,” said Dinkic. The G17 Plus leader said that Serbia had to continue its journey towards the EU. “That doesn’t mean we’ll agree with all of its decisions - that means that we’ll tell them when they’re wrong that they’re wrong - but we should take advantage of what is good for us from the EU, and many things are. We’ll never accept what is bad,” said Dinkic.

Serbia needs more time, Slovenian officials say

Meanwhile, statements continue to fly back and forth between the two opposing sides within the government over who should convene first – the government or parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić had been due to travel to Brussels today to put pen to paper on the agreement that the EU had offered Serbia, after certain member-states had blocked the signature of the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

However, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn postponed the ceremony, because, as he put it, Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica was hampering the signing process.

In the meantime, according to the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS), even if the signing had not been deferred, Đelić would not have been authorized to sign the document.

As a result, the deputy prime minister will neither be in Brussels today, nor will he or any other minister be attending any cabinet meeting.

As it had become clear yesterday that the cabinet would not be able to meet in time to give him the mandate to conclude the deal in Brussels, Rehn took it upon himself to postpone the event.

Rehn reiterated that Koštunica had recently asked him to push Serbia’s integration process forward, and not to link EU matters and Kosovo.

He felt that Serbia should sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and said that he would propose it again at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on February 18.

Meanwhile, G17 Plus leader and Economy Minister Mlađan Dinkić said that neither he nor President Boris Tadić would ever give up on European integration because, as he put it, they did not wish to wrap Serbia’s citizens in black.

“I put this question to you: if everyone around us is in the EU, if all our citizens want to travel, are we going to prohibit them? Are we going to prohibit Partizan from playing Panathinaikos? It’s irrational,” said Dinkić.

The G17 Plus leader said that Serbia had to continue its journey towards the EU.

“That doesn’t mean we’ll agree with all of its decisions - that means that we’ll tell them when they’re wrong that they’re wrong - but we should take advantage of what is good for us from the EU, and many things are. We’ll never accept what is bad,” said Dinkić.