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Opportunity to unfreeze Transitional Trade Agreement in December

Belgrade/Brussels, 16 September 2008

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU integration Bozidar Djelic said today in Brussels that there will be another chance to unfreeze the Transitional Trade Agreement with the EU in December, once The Hague tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz submits his report to the UN Security Council.

Bozidar Djelic

Author: Fonet

In a statement to the press after the meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, Djelic said that Brammertz will submit his report to the UN Security Council in December, which can be viewed as another opportunity for the Transitional Trade Agreement to be placed on the EU agenda and for yesterday’s decision to be changed at the summit at the end of the year.

The entire European Commission is disappointed, but they send the message to Serbia that a great majority of Europe wants Serbia as an EU member and that everything that happened yesterday should not discourage us in any way, stressed the Deputy Prime Minister.

He commented that it is a pity that Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen yesterday took it upon himself, in spite of the clear opinion of all other member states and that of The Hague tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor, to slow down Serbia’s EU integration at this point.

It is clear that the Netherlands wants to impose the condition that Ratko Mladic appears before The Hague tribunal in order for the agreement to come into force, but at yesterday’s meeting of EU ministers Verhagen did not give unambiguous answers to direct questions, and in that sense there exists a possibility to unfreeze the agreement if without Mladic in The Hague, explained Djelic.

According to Djelic, all in Serbia know that the condition will not vanish and that it is in Serbia’s interest to conclude cooperation with tribunal and to extradite the two indictees, regardless of the tribunal’s scandalous decisions.

The Deputy Prime Minister said to Serbian people that he, like all of them, is indignant over the yesterday’s decision, but at the same time encouraged since 25 countries and the entire EU Commission have been convincing the Netherlands for a long time to change its position.

Olli Rehn, left, and Bozidar Djelic

Author: Fonet

At the same time, he stressed that Serbia’s aim to acquire EU candidate status in 2009 will not be affected and the EU Commission again gave its support for this, and he added that Rehn suggested Serbia start implementing provisions of the agreement with the EU.

In that way, Serbia will achieve results which will be important while a decision is made about granting EU candidate status, said Djelic and added that he asked the EU Commission to formally guarantee that those results will be officially acknowledged and that it will not happen that somebody in the EU says they can be acknowledged only when the agreement between the EU and Serbia is unfrozen.

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that they started negotiations with Rehn and EU officials that, apart from the annual support of €200 million from the EU budget to date, they give support to the electrification of Corridor 10 from EU funds, since it is a key traffic route of great importance for the EU itself.

According to Djelic, the aim is to get support from the European Commission that Serbia after 2010 receives several hundred million euro more than it has been getting to date from the EU budget.

He also said that he submitted to the European Commission representatives a report of the government’s intersectoral group on steps that Serbian authorities will take for visa relaxation for Serbian citizens.

Djelic said that Rehn reiterated that the entire European Commission and 25 members supported the unfreezing of the Transitional Trade Agreement with Serbia.

The European Commission is disappointed as a large majority of EU members want Serbia in the EU as full member, but this should not discourage the Serbian authorities, Rehn said.

Djelic also met European Commission Vice President Jaques Barrot in Brussels today, and said following talks that the European Commission has pledged to complete the technical part of the work related to visa liberalisation in spring next year, which will enable Serbia to achieve its goal of inclusion in the White Schengen List.

I submitted an official report to the European Commission on steps which Serbia has taken so that the country may be included in the White Schengen List as soon as possible. It is a response to the road map for visa regime liberalisation presented by Barrot. They will examine it, forward further questions to us, and Barrot will present his first assessment to EU justice ministers in November, said Djelic.

According to Djelic, in the spring of 2009, the European Commission will complete technical work and we will move on to the political level.

This is in Serbia’s favour, but it doesn’t guarantee that Serbia will join the White Schengen List by summer next year, said Djelic.

He said that biometric passports are of key importance and that all those who wish to travel should get one.

Along with biometric passports, the other important condition is the legal framework. I conveyed that laws on foreigners, personal information protection and borders will be adopted by the Serbian parliament as early as next week. Chances for Serbia to be included in the White Schengen List will increase depending on the speed with which laws are harmonised, said Djelic.

He added that he is encouraged because it was indicated by the European Commission that each country of the West Balkans will be assessed separately, which is of advantage to Serbia, because the country has made significantly more progress than other countries.

The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister stressed that inclusion in the White Schengen List has no connection to Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague tribunal, and there are no political obstacles in the visa regime liberalisation.