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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Confirming clear European perspective for Western Balkans

Belgrade/Prague, 27 February 2020

Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic led today a delegation of Serbia at a meeting of foreign ministers of the countries of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) and the Western Balkans in Prague.

The meeting, which focused on an EU enlargement methodology proposed by the European Commission, was attended by new EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, representatives of the Western Balkan countries and representatives of Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Joksimovic stated that the participation of our delegation in this meeting is important as the countries of the Visegrad Group proved to be honest friends of the EU enlargement policy, the region and our country.

For Serbia it is important to see how exactly that new model would be applied on what has been achieved until now with the opening of the negotiation chapters, Joksimovic said and noted that Serbia is not negative about the new methodology and that it also sees its advantages.

The Minister said that Serbia will decide on this after the new progressive, stimulating economic plan for the Western Balkans has been presented at the summit in Zagreb and after we see which funds will be opened.

According to her, Serbia has undoubtedly showed that it has the first-class capabilities for both integration and for reforms and is absolutely not interested in artificial competitions in the region.

Joksimovic recalled that Serbia’s public debt has been significantly reduced, that the unemployment rate is dropping considerably, that serious reforms have been made in the areas that are a new trend in the economies of both Europe and the world – innovation, digitalisation and generally a new type of jobs, as well as in the field of democracy and the rule of law.

She reiterated that the issue is not who will enter the EU first and added that judging by all parameters Serbia is the country with the greatest capacity in the region and is undoubtedly the regional leader.

It is essential that the citizens feel even more benefits from European integration and that is why the national investment plan to 2025 has been presented and that is why Serbia remains on the European path in order to make even deeper reforms and create even more benefits for its citizens.