Slovak FM on Balkans: No quick solutions

All countries of the Western Balkans should focus on achieving reforms instead on "bidding the dates" of the accession to the EU, says Miroslav Lajcak. The Slovak foreign minister told Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti that Serbia's candidacy status request, submitted in December, is yet to be discussed. Slovak FM on Balkans: No quick solutions ”I suppose that this will be discussed at the one of the next ministerial meetings. It is a technical step for us. There should not be unnecessary politicization. Because the political part starts only when the Commission sends us its opinion,” he said. Asked if he knew when Serbia’s candidacy status bid could go to the EC for review, he replied that "based on the experiences of Montenegro and Albania, we know how long that took, approximately” and that it "certainly would not take longer in Serbia’s case". “But we should not burden ourselves with that. We should all think about how to get as high quality answers as possible to the questionnaire,” Lajcak added. The Slovak foreign minister said that he supported EU's enlargement, and also the Western Balkans joining the union. “At the same time, I am not a supporter of any deadlines, because it is counterproductive. Everybody should have clear rules of the game, fair treatment by the European institutions, and the European countries, and focus on fulfilling their obligations. If we now started to deal with dates, it would not help at all,” he pointed out. Asked if 2014 was "at least a realistic" timeframe for this to happen, the said that he "could not predict the future". “Let’s think about what we should do today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. And in order to know what will happen in 2014, we should first see what will happen in 2011, 2012 and 2013,” Lajcak concluded.

Slovak FM on Balkans: No quick solutions

”I suppose that this will be discussed at the one of the next ministerial meetings. It is a technical step for us. There should not be unnecessary politicization. Because the political part starts only when the Commission sends us its opinion,” he said.

Asked if he knew when Serbia’s candidacy status bid could go to the EC for review, he replied that "based on the experiences of Montenegro and Albania, we know how long that took, approximately” and that it "certainly would not take longer in Serbia’s case".

“But we should not burden ourselves with that. We should all think about how to get as high quality answers as possible to the questionnaire,” Lajčak added.

The Slovak foreign minister said that he supported EU's enlargement, and also the Western Balkans joining the union.

“At the same time, I am not a supporter of any deadlines, because it is counterproductive. Everybody should have clear rules of the game, fair treatment by the European institutions, and the European countries, and focus on fulfilling their obligations. If we now started to deal with dates, it would not help at all,” he pointed out.

Asked if 2014 was "at least a realistic" timeframe for this to happen, the said that he "could not predict the future".

“Let’s think about what we should do today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. And in order to know what will happen in 2014, we should first see what will happen in 2011, 2012 and 2013,” Lajčak concluded.