"Improve alignment with EU foreign policy"

"Improve alignment with EU foreign policy"

"I hope that Serbia Serbia will increase the percentage of alignment of its foreign policy with the policy of the EU in the coming weeks or months," the Italian minister said.

“The goal is to fully align Serbia’s foreign policy with the European one, which means that we will work to fulfill our obligations before we complete all the negotiating chapters, and particularly Chapter 31 (Foreign, security and defence policy), in the near future,” Dačić told a joint press conference.

He said "nobody pressured Serbia or gave it any ultimatums in that respect."

The media in Belgrade have been reporting that Serbia would be given an ultimatum to join the EU and impose sanctions on Russia by September 1, and that the Italian foreign minister would use her visit to exert pressure concerning the issue.

“This is a normal conversation and dialogue. We will have it several times during the Italian presidency and we will cooperate with Italy and the EU openly and honestly,” Dačić said, recalling that Chapter 31 would be "screened" in October.

He said that great progress had been made over the last three months when it came to harmonizing Serbia's foreign policy with that of the EU and the percentage of alignment was now over 70 percent.

“Of the 14 EU declarations we have accepted 10 and refused to accept four, which include sanctions against Russia,” said the Serbian foreign minister.

Dačić called for resolving the Ukrainian crisis at the negotiating table. “Serbia has very specific and very close relations with the EU, and with Ukraine, and with Russia, and it would be in the interests of all to see the situation calm down,” Dačić said.

Mogherini and Dačić expressed the hope that Chapters 32 (Financial control) and 35 (Other issues, including Kosovo) in the negotiations with Serbia would be opened during Italy’s EU presidency.

Mogherini said that she was meeting the foreign minister of Switzerland, which currently chairs the OSCE, in Rome the following day.

She said that she would emphasize during that meeting how important it was for Serbia to continue to chair the organization following the manner of Switzerland in terms of resolving the current issues around the world, including Ukraine.

Touching on the situation in Ukraine, she said it was fundamentally important to exert political pressure on Moscow.

It is imperative that Moscow honors its commitments, Mogherini said, pointing out that after the recent shooting down of the Malaysian airliner, we had to proceed from words to deeds and determine what really happened there.

Commenting on the situation in Gaza, she stressed that the international community insisted on extending the humanitarian ceasefire, which was in the interest of both Israel and Palestine, and that protecting the people in Gaza was a top priority.

While in Belgrade, the Italian official also met with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, and President Tomislav Nikolić.