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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia ready to resume negotiations with EU

Belgrade, 7 June 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic expressed satisfaction that negotiations between Serbia and the EU will be continued on June 13, but stressed that completing cooperation with The Hague is necessary to conclude the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).

Bozidar Djelic

Djelic told a press conference that it is possible that this condition will be fulfilled by the end of July, and stressed that the government has fulfilled its first promise regarding the resumption of negotiations on the SAA in less than one month.

He stressed that the government brought three decisions important for the process of European integration at its session today. He specified that the first one is the formation of a council for European integration to be led by the Prime Minister, which will consist of ministers in the government, representatives of trade unions, religious communities, local self-governments, cabinet of the Serbian President and non-governmental organisations working on European integration.

The second decision concerns the formation of a new negotiating team of the government for negotiations with the EU on concluding the SAA, said Djelic, and added that he will lead the negotiations for Serbia, while the secretariat of the team will be headed by Director of the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic.

The third decision is that from now on until Serbia joins the EU, a compulsory article on the agenda for the government’s session will be examination of the progress made by Serbia in the process of European integration, considering the fact that this is an issue of highest national interest for Serbia.

Predrag Bubalo

Serbian Minister of Trade and Services Predrag Bubalo said that he has once again been appointed president of the Serbian part of the intergovernmental Serbian-Russian Committee for Commercial, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, and said that a meeting of the Committee will be held in Belgrade from June 21 to 23.

He said that the Serbian delegation, led by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will travel tomorrow to St Petersburg to attend the International Economic Forum, where besides political questions, the significant progress made in Serbian and Russian economic relations will also be discussed.

That subject was also discussed, amongst others, today in Belgrade during the meeting with representatives of Gazprom, as well as the construction of the gas pipeline through Serbia, said Bubalo.

Tanja Miscevic

Director of the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic said that resumption of negotiations on the SAA between Serbia and the EU is very good news.

She pointed to the fact that it is still unknown whether it will be a technical or an official round of talks, and added that it is very important that the government today formed the negotiating team mentioned.

Miscevic said that Serbia is ready to continue negotiations, and 80% of the contents of the agreement have already been discussed.

Judging by the past tempo of negotiations, two rounds of technical talks and two official rounds will be adequate for Serbia, said Miscevic and added that technically it is possible to end this work by the end of July.

She explained that Serbia’s aim is to conclude the SAA by the end of 2007, and in 2008 to get the status of candidate for joining the EU with a clear date for negotiations regarding that.

She recalled that completing cooperation with the Hague tribunal is a condition for concluding the SAA.

Ksenija Milivojevic

Advisor to the Serbian President for European Integration Ksenija Milivojevic said today that Serbia will do parallel work on getting candidate country status and to enter the White Schengen List by the end of 2008.

Milivojevic stressed that Serbia’s aim is to sign the SAA by the end of 2007, in order to submit the demand for getting candidate country status.

She said that the Serbian government’s negotiating team for European integration will visit EU establishments in Strasburg, Luxemburg and Brussels from June 18 to 20 and talk with representatives of the Council of Ministers, European Commission and the European parliament.