Rupel: New visa regime before elections

Slovenia's FM Dimitrij Rupel says one of the chief topics of Friday’s EU ministerial meeting will be the western Balkans. EU foreign ministers will meet on March 28, to kick off an informal meeting in Brdo Pri Kranju, which will also be attended by western Balkan foreign ministers. Rupel: New visa regime before elections As announced, the main topics of the first day will be the Middle East peace process, preparations for the EU-Russia summit, Tibet and inter-cultural dialogue, while the second day will be dedicated to the western Balkans, when the talks will be based around a report from the European Commission and the Thessaloniki Agenda. “Slovenia wants to find an answer to the basic questions—how to help Serbia get closer to the European Union, how to handle the situation in Kosovo, while the role of the European EULEX mission there also interests us,” said the Slovenian foreign minister. He said that an answer would also be sought at the conference to the question of “how to speed up Macedonia’s progress towards the EU, and the integration of Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Croatia is already on the right road, especially after deciding to freeze the ecological-fishing zone.” Rupel said that Albania’s further integration “depends on fulfilling conditions from the Stabilization and Association Agreement.” “But, the most important question is helping Serbia and its European perspective,” the minister stressed. “I hope that we will be able to convince our Serbian friends this time that the EU wants them, that it wants Serbia to progress and to take care of its existing problems in order to join us,” he added. Rupel said that “Serbia will be a member of the EU, we already agreed to that in Thessaloniki,” and that this weekend’s conference would serve to “confirm and refresh the Thessaloniki Agenda.” The minister said that intercultural dialogue between Serbs and Albanians was of special important, "as it was between Palestinians and Israelis". Wednesday, he said that the Union may soon offer Serbia a new, more favorable visa regime, "in order to indicate to Serbian citizens that it supports the country's accession to the EU". "What we can offer is a visa regime agreement that will certainly be much more favorable than the current one," Rupel said. "This agreement could soon become effective, and I hope that it will be signed before the election in Serbia," he told Reuters yesterday. Rupel was unable to say whether Serbia will sign the interim political agreement, which the EU offered it in February, before the end of Slovenia's term at the EU's helm on June 30. The Belgrade government could not sign the agreement, offered in between the two rounds of presidential elections, due to the EU's position on the secession of Kosovo, which has been backed by the majority of member countries. "The interim political agreement is still waiting to be signed. I will put my signature on it now, if the Serbs want me to," Rupel said. Brussels offered this instead of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Belgrade's full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal has been cited as the condition for this first step toward EU membership. Today, it was announced that EU ministers will also discuss energy security, with Russia as one of the EU’s most important strategic partners with whom it had overall trade of EUR 220bn in 2006. Rupel said that the EU and the Russian Federation shared the same position regarding Iran, cooperation in the Middle East, policy towards North Korea, but did not agree on Kosovo “and the solution for the final part of the Yugoslav crisis.” There will also be talk of an agreement on partnership and cooperation with Russia, which is “as much in the EU’s interests as it is in the Russian Federation’s,” and around which there are some problems. The Slovenian foreing minister said that he hoped that the difficulties would be overcome quickly, and that talks between the two sides would begin soon. Dimitrij Rupel (Tanjug)

Rupel: New visa regime before elections

As announced, the main topics of the first day will be the Middle East peace process, preparations for the EU-Russia summit, Tibet and inter-cultural dialogue, while the second day will be dedicated to the western Balkans, when the talks will be based around a report from the European Commission and the Thessaloniki Agenda.

“Slovenia wants to find an answer to the basic questions—how to help Serbia get closer to the European Union, how to handle the situation in Kosovo, while the role of the European EULEX mission there also interests us,” said the Slovenian foreign minister.

He said that an answer would also be sought at the conference to the question of “how to speed up Macedonia’s progress towards the EU, and the integration of Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Croatia is already on the right road, especially after deciding to freeze the ecological-fishing zone.”

Rupel said that Albania’s further integration “depends on fulfilling conditions from the Stabilization and Association Agreement.”

“But, the most important question is helping Serbia and its European perspective,” the minister stressed.

“I hope that we will be able to convince our Serbian friends this time that the EU wants them, that it wants Serbia to progress and to take care of its existing problems in order to join us,” he added.

Rupel said that “Serbia will be a member of the EU, we already agreed to that in Thessaloniki,” and that this weekend’s conference would serve to “confirm and refresh the Thessaloniki Agenda.”

The minister said that intercultural dialogue between Serbs and Albanians was of special important, "as it was between Palestinians and Israelis".

Wednesday, he said that the Union may soon offer Serbia a new, more favorable visa regime, "in order to indicate to Serbian citizens that it supports the country's accession to the EU".

"What we can offer is a visa regime agreement that will certainly be much more favorable than the current one," Rupel said.

"This agreement could soon become effective, and I hope that it will be signed before the election in Serbia," he told Reuters yesterday.

Rupel was unable to say whether Serbia will sign the interim political agreement, which the EU offered it in February, before the end of Slovenia's term at the EU's helm on June 30.

The Belgrade government could not sign the agreement, offered in between the two rounds of presidential elections, due to the EU's position on the secession of Kosovo, which has been backed by the majority of member countries.

"The interim political agreement is still waiting to be signed. I will put my signature on it now, if the Serbs want me to," Rupel said.

Brussels offered this instead of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Belgrade's full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal has been cited as the condition for this first step toward EU membership.

Today, it was announced that EU ministers will also discuss energy security, with Russia as one of the EU’s most important strategic partners with whom it had overall trade of EUR 220bn in 2006.

Rupel said that the EU and the Russian Federation shared the same position regarding Iran, cooperation in the Middle East, policy towards North Korea, but did not agree on Kosovo “and the solution for the final part of the Yugoslav crisis.”

There will also be talk of an agreement on partnership and cooperation with Russia, which is “as much in the EU’s interests as it is in the Russian Federation’s,” and around which there are some problems.

The Slovenian foreing minister said that he hoped that the difficulties would be overcome quickly, and that talks between the two sides would begin soon.