Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

First contract between Serbia-Montenegro and EU by November 2006

Sombor, 14 November 2005

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus expressed today his expectation that Serbia-Montenegro will sign its first contract with the EU by November 2006.

Author: Fonet

Speaking with representatives of the local self-government in Sombor as part of the “Europe Knocks at Your Door” campaign, Labus said that by then it will be officially and legally clear that Serbia-Montenegro will join the EU. Labus was accompanied on this visit by the British and Croatian ambassadors to Serbia-Montenegro, David Gowan and Tonci Stanicic respectively.

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that joining the EU implies reformation of the administration sector at all levels, from the republic down to the municipalities.

According to Labus, it is of high importance for Serbia-Montenegro that Croatia enters the EU as soon as possible, because Serbia-Montenegro could greatly benefit from Croatia’s experience in the process.

“The road to the European Union is not at all easy, but if we all share the same aim, we can become an EU member by 2012”, Labus said.

Labus said that the Serbian government is doing everything in its power to fully cooperate with the Hague tribunal and announced Hague tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte’s visit to Serbia-Montenegro for early December.

Speaking about inflation, Labus said that at the end of the year it should be between 16 and 17 percent, on the provision that the price of communal services stays the same.

According to Labus, it is impossible to say whether local self-governments will allow the increase in prices of communal services in December, which will have its effect on inflation. He also added that the Serbian government will take all necessary measures to reduce the inflation rate in 2006 to a single-digit figure.

British Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro David Gowan expressed his satisfaction that the start of talks on Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU coincides with the UK presidency over the EU.

Gowan said that the next essential task of Serbia-Montenegro must be full cooperation with the Hague tribunal and the soonest possible extradition of Hague indictee Ratko Mladic.

Croatian Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro Tonci Stanicic said that the road to the EU has no alternative for both Serbia-Montenegro and Croatia, and that Croatia, which is now a step ahead Serbia on that road, will offer its full support to its neighbour to reach the status of an EU candidate country as soon as possible.

Stanicic stressed that the two countries need to rely on each other, not just in the economic sector, but in the cultural sector as well.

Talking about the position of national minorities in Serbia and Croatia, he announced that next week the first meeting of the mixed Serbo-Croatian committee for the protection of minority rights.

Following his visit to “Somboled” diary, now majority owned by the Zagreb-based “Lura” company, Labus pointed out that what he saw in Sombor only strengthened his conviction that only those privatisations in which there is a strategic partner can be successful.

The Serbian government delegation and the British and Croatian ambassadors also visited the metal-working plant “Bane Sekulic”, the city library, Sombor secondary school of economics and the gallery “Milan Konjevic”.