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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Acceleration of EU integration Serbia’s priority

Kragujevac, 11 February 2009

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said today in Kragujevac that Serbia’s foreign policy priorities are defending territorial integrity, accelerating the process of EU integration and establishing good regional cooperation.

Jeremic, who is visiting Kragujevac on the occasion of the Serbian National Day, said following talks with the Mayor of Kragujevac Veroljub Stevanovic that the Serbian government’s central strategic priority is to accelerate the EU integration process.

He said that it is the government’s priority to make Serbia a member of the EU, equal to all other European countries.

He said that this goal can be achieved by focusing on the third priority, which is establishing good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation.

It is very important that we have chosen to struggle for our basic national goals in a peaceful manner by political, diplomatic and legal means, said Jeremic.

The Minister said that Serbia will continue close consultations about EU membership with all sides, adding that it is extremely important to make EU integration an interactive and two-way process.

Speaking about EU Special Representative in Kosovo Pieter Feith’s statement that the province presents the dangerous task of integrating northern Kosovo into a single Kosovo system and it is only in that way and through good neighbourly relations that Kosovo can achieve full independence, Jeremic said that Feith’s comments are not relevant for Serbia.

Relations between Serbia and Kosovo are not neighbourly, Jeremic stressed, adding that the status of the Serbian province will be defined in line with international law.

I am convinced that the moment will come when it will become obvious that there will be no peace and stability in the Balkans without finding a Kosovo status acceptable for all.

He said that the EULEX mission received the mandate of the UN Security Council and has a serious task to provide peace and stability in Kosovo in a status-neutral way.

We will fully cooperate with EULEX as long as this mission sticks to the rules established in the UN Security Council, said Jeremic.

Stevanovic recalled that on February 15, 1835, the Constitution was adopted in Kragujevac and that in 1878 in Kragujevac, Jovan Ristic read out the decision on Serbian independence and statehood from the Berlin Congress.

Stevanovic thanked Jeremic for all he has done in preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia.

Jeremic and Stevanovic also laid wreaths at the monument to Jovan Ristic and visited the Sumarice national park where they laid wreaths at the monument to the victims of the Nazi revenge, when on October 21, 1941 several thousand civilians were killed, including several hundred children and their teachers.