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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Acceleration of European integration is most important for Serbia at this point

Belgrade, 30 August 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic stated today that intensive acceleration of European integration is most important for Serbia at this point as it is in our greatest interest to become a full EU member as soon as possible.

Bozidar Djelic

Author: Tanjug

In an interview with Tanjug news agency, Djelic said that the history has shown that European integration results in peace and that it will also bring peace to the Balkans as well as prosperity to our state.

It is our national interest to become full EU member country as soon as possible, he said noting that we will do that by becoming competitive and making full use of great opportunities that are there for our companies and therefore to our citizens.

He also said that it in the EU’s interest for the Balkans to be stable and Serbia the central part of it.

Djelic expressed expectation that Serbia will become one of the most interesting parts of the Old Continent as not only through festivals Exit and Guca but also thanks to many awards that our filmmakers, musicians and athletes get.

Speaking on fiscal measures, Djelic said that they should contribute to an inflation decrease, and noted that the best measure is to reduce public expenditure and that effects of these measures will be seen in 2008.

He announced that the government will propose amendments to the Law on protection of competition.

He added that the government in the first 100 days of its work has confirmed that promises are being fulfilled.

According to Djelic, this government will do the greatest part of the job so as to qualify our country to be institutionally, economically, politically and geopolitically capable of becoming full-fledged EU member and most importantly, to secure competitiveness of the Serbian economy and institutions in such an environment.

Summing up the government’s engagement in execution of five priorities marked in Prime Minister’s keynote address – fighting for preservation of the country’s territorial integrity, for Kosovo-Metohija, speeding up European integration, cooperation with The Hague, fight against corruption and organised crime and better living standards, Djelic said that this is just the beginning and that these will be priorities throughout the whole mandate.

He said that although the situation with Kosovo-Metohija is still difficult, the state policy has yielded results and some steps forward were made.

The new round will begin these days, perhaps even real negotiations, where the entire Contact Group is engaged and there is no imposition of a predetermined plan or solution, and where speaking globally, there are no deadlines, said the Deputy Prime Minister.

As far as acceleration of European integration is concerned, he recalled the fact that for a period of less than a month since the formation of the government, on June 13, negotiations on signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Serbia and the EU were resumed.

We had two rounds of talks, one in Brussels, the other in Belgrade, and now we are very close to conclusion, said Djelic and expressed the conviction that after the round to be held on September 10, Serbia will be ready to initial the agreement, and following that this first agreement between Serbia and the EU will be signed.

Speaking about cooperation with The Hague, he recalled that Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte gave the green light for resuming negotiations with the EU following her visit to Belgrade and stated at the session of the Security Council that Serbia has made qualitative progress regarding cooperation.

Regarding the fight against corruption and organised crime, the government proposed, and parliament ratified the Police Cooperation Convention for South East Europe, recalled Djelic and added that the crime rate is dropping, and several spectacular operations were carried out in the fight against organised crime in various areas.

Commenting on the government’s efforts to improve the life of people, Djelic said that the government has designed a unified platform, with very clear promises which people can see being fulfilled.

According to Djelic, removal of tax on purchase of first house proves this, as well as reduction of the VAT on purchase of computers and software from 18% to 8%, and payments to registered farms in the average amount of €100 per hectare of land used for farming.

He said that the realistic buying power of Serbian citizens has increased by 11.5%, and added that prices have risen, but salaries have risen significantly as well. According to Djelic, inflation will certainly once again be single digit this year and will stand between 6.5% and 7.5%.

Djelic said that it is very important that the so called base inflation, which essentially shows the trend of prices, is still dropping, adding that during the first seven months it was at a record low in 40 years.

Djelic said that according to his estimation it was possible to work more effectively and faster, in the government and parliament and in legislation, bearing in mind that there are still 44 laws to be adopted in the area of European integration. He expressed conviction that during the next 100 days of work, that is by the end of the year, the government will work even more intensively than during the first 100 days.