Jeremić: EU ready, waiting for partners
Vuk Jeremić says the EU Council of Ministers is ready to continue supporting Serbia’s EU integration process as soon as a new government is formed.
Monday, 26.05.2008.
17:08
Vuk Jeremic says the EU Council of Ministers is ready to continue supporting Serbia’s EU integration process as soon as a new government is formed. “Following the victory of pro-EU forces at the elections... the ministers have shown a great desire and readiness to begin the process of rubber-stamping the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), along with the road map for visa abolishment with the new government as soon as possible,” said the foreign minister after a meeting with EU foreign ministers. Jeremic: EU ready, waiting for partners Today’s debate at the Council of Ministers regarding the Western Balkans focused chiefly, according to Jeremic, on the May 11 parliamentary elections and the process of forming the future government. He said that several EU officials had asked him about the possibility of annulling the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which had been the campaign promise of certain parties before the elections. Jeremic said that he had assured EU officials that this would not happen if a pro-European government was formed, expressing his confidence that a government would be formed based on the will of the electorate, who had clearly showed that they wanted Serbia to head for closer European integration. He reiterated that the new government would be the EU’s partner in the process of integration, adding that the sooner a new government was formed, the sooner the Serbian people could gain take advantage of the benefits of the European path. “Europe is prepared to begin the process of ratifying the SAA. It is ready to begin the process of full liberalization of the visa regime,” Jeremic said, adding that in order to do so, the EU “needs a partner, and that is the future, stable, pro-European, Serbian government.” “The sooner that government is formed, the faster the process will begin. The ball is now in Serbia’s court. The faster we create a stable government, a pro-European government, one which will conform to the electoral will of the citizens--and that is a pro-European will which was whole-heartedly welcomed by Brussels today--the faster we will be ready to continue along this path,” said the foreign minister. He told journalist in Brussels that “all of Europe’s attention is focused on the most important process, of strategic importance, which is Serbia’s orientation.” Asked about Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, Jeremic said that Serbia was currently in a “vacuum.” “The technical government has less room for manoeuvre. As far as Hague cooperation is concerned, there will be no changes in government policy. That is one policy that cannot be changed. I hope that once we have full institutional capacities, there will be concrete results that will represent one of the integral elements of our road towards EU membership,” he said. Jeremic said that the discussion on Kosovo was “secondary” today. “EULEX was not discussed. Serbia’s position regarding EULEX will not change once the government is formed. The position is that the international civil presence in the region can only exist under a UN mandate. For now, that is UNMIK, and until there is a new decision in the UN, Serbia will consider every other international presence to be illegal,” the foreign minister underlined. Jeremic said that while in Brussels, he had used the opportunity to meet with EU Security and Foreign Policies Chief Javier Solana and a large number of EU ministers, including Slovenia’s Dimitrij Rupel. He said that he had attended the Council of Ministers meeting on the invitation of the EU member states. Vuk Jeremic (FoNet, archive)
Jeremić: EU ready, waiting for partners
Today’s debate at the Council of Ministers regarding the Western Balkans focused chiefly, according to Jeremić, on the May 11 parliamentary elections and the process of forming the future government.He said that several EU officials had asked him about the possibility of annulling the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which had been the campaign promise of certain parties before the elections.
Jeremić said that he had assured EU officials that this would not happen if a pro-European government was formed, expressing his confidence that a government would be formed based on the will of the electorate, who had clearly showed that they wanted Serbia to head for closer European integration.
He reiterated that the new government would be the EU’s partner in the process of integration, adding that the sooner a new government was formed, the sooner the Serbian people could gain take advantage of the benefits of the European path.
“Europe is prepared to begin the process of ratifying the SAA. It is ready to begin the process of full liberalization of the visa regime,” Jeremić said, adding that in order to do so, the EU “needs a partner, and that is the future, stable, pro-European, Serbian government.”
“The sooner that government is formed, the faster the process will begin. The ball is now in Serbia’s court. The faster we create a stable government, a pro-European government, one which will conform to the electoral will of the citizens--and that is a pro-European will which was whole-heartedly welcomed by Brussels today--the faster we will be ready to continue along this path,” said the foreign minister.
He told journalist in Brussels that “all of Europe’s attention is focused on the most important process, of strategic importance, which is Serbia’s orientation.”
Asked about Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, Jeremić said that Serbia was currently in a “vacuum.”
“The technical government has less room for manoeuvre. As far as Hague cooperation is concerned, there will be no changes in government policy. That is one policy that cannot be changed. I hope that once we have full institutional capacities, there will be concrete results that will represent one of the integral elements of our road towards EU membership,” he said.
Jeremić said that the discussion on Kosovo was “secondary” today.
“EULEX was not discussed. Serbia’s position regarding EULEX will not change once the government is formed. The position is that the international civil presence in the region can only exist under a UN mandate. For now, that is UNMIK, and until there is a new decision in the UN, Serbia will consider every other international presence to be illegal,” the foreign minister underlined.
Jeremić said that while in Brussels, he had used the opportunity to meet with EU Security and Foreign Policies Chief Javier Solana and a large number of EU ministers, including Slovenia’s Dimitrij Rupel.
He said that he had attended the Council of Ministers meeting on the invitation of the EU member states.
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