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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Cooperation between France and Serbia in European integration process

Belgrade, 23 March 2005

Head of the EU Integration Office Radmila Milivojevic said that the assistance which the French Embassy offers to the Office, first of all in the organisation of educational and communication activities, is of great importance at the moment when Serbia-Montenegro awaits a favourable assessment of the feasibility study to start negotiations on the EU stabilisation and association agreement.

Speaking at a press conference held to promote the cooperation between France and Serbia in the field of European integration, Milivojevic said that the French government sponsored the printing of 12 brochures for familiarising civil servants and the public with the EU accession process. These brochures cover EU Competition Right, the Stabilisation and Association Process, Project Cycle Management, Enlarged Europe: Economic Changes and Expectations, Amended Edition of the Primer of European Integration, EU Regional Policy, Introduction to EU Law, the leaflets on the EU Integration Office and on the Stabilisation and Association Process and European Partnership.

Additionally, the French government sent one of its experts to Serbia from 2003 to 2005 in order to assist the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office with knowledge and experience on the improvement of capacities at the Office and other bodies of the Serbian government.

The French government’s assistance extended to the educational sector when in the school year for 2004-2005 they granted six scholarships for specialist studies of European law, carried out by the University of Nancy and the Belgrade Faculty of Law, said Milivojevic and added that this programme is of great importance for improvement of capacities of Serbia's public administration because upon the completion of studies, the scholarship holders will be offered employment in the public administration.

She said that training on the EU was organised for 50 public servants and that, along with employees of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, they attended a project management course in May 2004.

Milivojevic also pointed out that a three-day educational mission for deputies in the Serbian, Montenegrin and Serbia-Montenegrin parliaments was organised in December 2004, with the deputies visiting the parliaments of the Republic of France and the European parliament in Strasbourg.

A positive feasibility study for Serbia-Montenegro is the beginning of serious overall preparations for the process, she said. The process will call for organising negotiating teams and continuing the harmonisation of the national judiciary with the European one.

Milivojevic said that a positive feasibility study will open the door for the onset of a very serious venture, and expressed belief that Brussels will grant Belgrade the positive feasibility study by April 12.

French Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro Hugues Pernet said that France will back Serbia-Montenegro on the difficult and long-lasting road of EU accession.

Pernet also expressed hope that the feasibility study will be given a positive assessment, adding that Belgrade should remain on the EU track regardless of the assessment’s outcome.