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EU Commission to consider draft of modified SAA negotiating mandate for Serbia

Belgrade, 3 July 2006

Director of the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic said that the European Commission should adopt a draft of the modified mandate for negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia, and then forward it to the EU Council of Ministers for adoption, most likely on July 22.

Tanja Miscevic: Serbia is ready to resume the talks

In a statement for today's edition of the daily Politika, Miscevic stressed that the modification of the mandate is simply a technical issue. Namely, the words "state union" and "Montenegro" will be erased from the current mandate, and competencies that were defined for two levels of government will now be redefined to refer solely to Serbia, she added.

Miscevic pointed out that Serbia is ready to resume the talks, adding that it only remains to conclude the issue of the interior affairs sector and the judiciary, that will now be called "judiciary, freedom and justice", and to start with the final and institutional provisions of two as yet unopened SAA chapters.

She said that these refer to cooperation regarding asylum and migration, border control and cooperation of police and judiciary organs, and it will probably be on the agenda of the next round of talks as soon as the decision to continue the negotiations is passed.

According to Miscevic, general provisions envisage the creation of an appropriate institutional structure made up of three organs - a council for stabilisation and association, a committee for stabilisation, and a parliamentary committee. General provisions also contain an explanation on when the agreement should become effective.

As far as technical issues are concerned, Miscevic said that an agreement should be reached on the lists of industrial and agricultural products and on the annex and protocol that follow the agreement with the EU.

Miscevic said that preparations for a plenary meeting of the Enhanced Permanent Dialogue are underway, which should be held in mid July and for which the EU Integration Office is preparing everything necessary for the talks on the reform of the defence sector and protection of human rights, which so far have been under the jurisdiction of the state union.