Serbia will officially apply for EU candidacy on Tuesday

Belgrade, Dec. 22 2009 (Serbia Today) - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt will ceremonially accept from President Boris Tadic Serbia’s application for the EU membership today at 2.30 PM in Stockholm.
Serbian Government is hoping that Spain, which apparently supports Serbian candidacy, will do everything possible to make that application formally accepted by the EU Council of Ministers until the end of March at the latest so that Serbia would try to get the candidate status until the end of the next year.
In the name of the Serbian Government President Boris Tadić and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković signed on Saturday the application for EU candidacy. Tadić said that the decision on when the request would be considered will be made by Sweden, the country currently presiding over the EU. He pointed out that there should be no difficulty even without the arrests of Hague fugitives Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić because Serbia is doing everything in its power to conclude negotiations with the Hague Tribunal.
“Our program is simple; we want Serbia in the European Union,” Tadić said. After the Government‘s decision today “no one can have a questions about what direction Serbia is heading in.” He added that even though there are people in Serbia who oppose European integration, the will of the majority of citizens must be respected.
In a statement for Tanjug, Prime Minister Cvetković said that “With this decision Serbia has mapped out the route it will take in the coming period and has shown that it shares the values of European countries.” He added that the decision to apply for candidacy was the result of strenuous work by the Government.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt showed his support for Serbia’s decision to submit the application. On his official blog Bildt said “This is a historic moment for Serbia.“ “The Serbian President is welcome in Stockholm on Tuesday to submit the application to Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt,”
Reinfeldt said that Serbia has taken a historic step in deciding to apply for EU candidacy. “I will welcome Serbian President Boris Tadić to Stockholm on December 22, when he will be officially submitting the application.” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn will attend in Stockholm for the occasion as well.