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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Stabilisation agreement defines compulsory political priorities

Belgrade, 5 July 2005

Former Croatian Minister of European Integration and chief negotiator for the stabilisation and association agreement (SAA), Neven Mimica, said today that talks on concluding the SAA and joining the EU do not only imply formation of a negotiation team, but also a parallel reform implementation and good communication with citizens.

On the second and final day of a seminar held in Belgrade, Mimica pointed out that the SAA defines the political priorities a country must fulfil to reach the next stage in approaching the EU, which means becoming a candidate for accession.

Speaking about Croatian experiences, namely putting-off the negotiations on EU accession due to inadequate cooperation with the Hague tribunal, Mimica told Serbia-Montenegrin politicians that they must not disregard the fulfilment of political criteria.

He added that it is very important that the negotiation team secure a clearly formulated perspective at the very beginning, namely that the aim of the SAA is the country’s membership in the EU.

Olga Spevec, a member of the Croatian delegation in the WTO membership negotiations pointed out that a country’s main negotiator on EU accession must have such an outstanding position in political and economic circles so that they can be able to react quickly and make commendable decisions during the talks.

Croatian Assistant Minister of European Integration and Secretary of the negotiation team for admission to the EU, Tamara Obradovic, said that most attention should be paid to the first draft, which will be sent from Brussels.

She pointed out that, while creating guidelines for the SAA, it is also important to pay heed to other countries’ results in the same process and learn from them.

According to her, the makeup of a country’s team in Brussels is of greatest importance in communication with the EU, therefore its members must be top experts.

The two-day seminar was organised by the Serbian EU Integration Office, the Hans Zeidel Foundation, the UNDP, and the Dutch government.