Serbia’s priority EU candidate status before mid-2011

Belgrade, March, 27. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Deputy Prime Minister for EU integration Bozidar Djelic stated today that Serbia’s priority is to acquire EU candidate status before the middle of 2011 and develop the capacity to access all elements of the EU budget.

Following a meeting with representatives of the Council of Europe Western Balkans Committee, led by head of the European Commission delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert, Djelic stressed that Serbia’s goal is to continue reforms in the judiciary, combat organized crime and corruption, protect competition and take an active part in the drafting of the Danube Strategy. He said that he proposed that at the “EU–Western Balkans” conference, scheduled for June in Sarajevo, one of the key topics should be the perspective of the Western Balkans before 2020, in order to harmonize the plans for this part of the Balkans with those of the EU. The Deputy Prime Minister said that Serbia will prepare this proposal and present its programme for the next ten years, adding that the official Belgrade will formulate proposals to address the strategy for Roma inclusion and the issue of refugees. Degert stressed that the EU is working together with Serbia on financial, economic and political aspects of development, adding that during their three-day stay in Belgrade the EU delegation will discuss these issues with Serbian representatives. We want to help, especially with regard to ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and the procedures regarding the candidate status for EU membership, he said, adding that it is important that members of the Union are familiar with the political, economic and social aspects in Serbia.