Jeremić: EU candidacy this year

Though EU Commissioner Olli Rehn says now is not the time for Serbia to submit a candidacy application, Vuk Jeremic says that Serbia will plough on regardless. The foreign minister said that Serbia would definitely apply for EU candidacy this year. Jeremic: EU candidacy this year Jeremic told a press conference at government HQ that an application for candidacy would most likely be submitted during the Czech EU presidency. “We will continue intensive contacts, but we will not allow anyone’s internal policies to slow us on the EU path,” he told the press conference, where he presented a report on the work of his ministry so far. Jeremic also said that Serbia did not support Kosovo’s accession to any international financial institutions, but that it would not block its membership in regional and multilateral organizations under the name UNMIK Kosovo. Earlier today, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn offered Serbia new hope for applying for EU membership, in spite of the continued failure to arrest Ratko Mladic. “We will work with Serbia in order to unblock the [Stabilization and Association] Agreement once the Hague and all EU members are convinced of Serbia’s full cooperation with the Tribunal,” said Rehn, speaking to France Presse. After meeting senior Serbian officials, Rehn recommended that parliament quickly adopt laws that would hasten EU integration. Deputy Director of the Office for EU Integration Srdjan Marjanovic told B92 that Rehn’s visit was very important, bearing in mind that the government had begun implementing the commissioner’s recommendations at the end of January. “By implementing the Interim Agreement and taking care to conduct the National Integration Program, which means adopting laws on this list, Serbia is, at this time, doing everything in its power to establish all the conditions necessary for a candidacy application,” said Marjanovic. He added that it was necessary to finish off what Rehn had hinted at this time, which was cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. Regarding the possibility of receiving new funds to assist the budget, Marjanovic said that this had been an initiative raised by the Serbian side and recently promoted at a regional meeting in Belgrade. “Countries in the region clearly stated and sent a message to the European Commission (EC) that we are all future members of the EU and that we’re all currently suffering the same repercussions of the financial crisis and that, in this respect, the EC, in the principle of solidarity, needs to help the region,” he said. “The EC is currently considering the possibility of using funds destined for regional use throughout the Western Balkan countries, to help the individual budgets of these states instead, given the challenges all of us in the region and in Europe are facing,” Marjanovic said. Olli Rehn and Boris Tadic (FoNet)

Jeremić: EU candidacy this year

Jeremić told a press conference at government HQ that an application for candidacy would most likely be submitted during the Czech EU presidency.

“We will continue intensive contacts, but we will not allow anyone’s internal policies to slow us on the EU path,” he told the press conference, where he presented a report on the work of his ministry so far.

Jeremić also said that Serbia did not support Kosovo’s accession to any international financial institutions, but that it would not block its membership in regional and multilateral organizations under the name UNMIK Kosovo.

Earlier today, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn offered Serbia new hope for applying for EU membership, in spite of the continued failure to arrest Ratko Mladić.

“We will work with Serbia in order to unblock the [Stabilization and Association] Agreement once the Hague and all EU members are convinced of Serbia’s full cooperation with the Tribunal,” said Rehn, speaking to France Presse.

After meeting senior Serbian officials, Rehn recommended that parliament quickly adopt laws that would hasten EU integration.

Deputy Director of the Office for EU Integration Srđan Marjanović told B92 that Rehn’s visit was very important, bearing in mind that the government had begun implementing the commissioner’s recommendations at the end of January.

“By implementing the Interim Agreement and taking care to conduct the National Integration Program, which means adopting laws on this list, Serbia is, at this time, doing everything in its power to establish all the conditions necessary for a candidacy application,” said Marjanović.

He added that it was necessary to finish off what Rehn had hinted at this time, which was cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. Regarding the possibility of receiving new funds to assist the budget, Marjanović said that this had been an initiative raised by the Serbian side and recently promoted at a regional meeting in Belgrade.

“Countries in the region clearly stated and sent a message to the European Commission (EC) that we are all future members of the EU and that we’re all currently suffering the same repercussions of the financial crisis and that, in this respect, the EC, in the principle of solidarity, needs to help the region,” he said.

“The EC is currently considering the possibility of using funds destined for regional use throughout the Western Balkan countries, to help the individual budgets of these states instead, given the challenges all of us in the region and in Europe are facing,” Marjanović said.