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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia to apply for candidate status this year

Belgrade, 13 February 2009

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic confirmed today that Serbia will definitely apply for EU candidate status this year.

Vuk Jeremic

Jeremic presented a report on the Foreign Ministry’s work up until now at a press conference today and said that the application will most probably be submitted during the Czech EU presidency.

We will continue with intensive contacts but will not allow any internal policy to slow down Serbia’s EU integration process, said the Minister.

He said that next week he will talk with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNMIK Chief Lamberto Zannier about the implementation of the six-item plan.

He said that the meeting with the UN Secretary General will be held on February 17 in New York and he will meet with Zannier two days later in Belgrade.

He reiterated that Serbia does not support Kosovo acquiring membership of any international financial institutions, but will not block its membership of regional and multilateral organisations as long as they call themselves UNMIK Kosovo.

The second part of the report presents the results of the negotiations concerning EU integration, explained Jeremic.

He said that the majority of countries support Serbia’s EU integration, but the basic goal this year will be to fulfil technical conditions for the removal of visa restrictions.

He stressed that the acquisition of full membership remains the central priority of the Serbian government and the Foreign Ministry, adding that the result of activities in that area is that Serbia has strong support from the Council of the European Union but unfortunately there is no consensus regarding the issue.

The Minister said that it is a sign of the major progress made by Serbia that it received the road map for the removal of visa restrictions, which practically wraps up the diplomatic work and the rest is a task for the Serbian government and parliament.

He said that the report also speaks of regional cooperation, which was undermined to a great degree by the decision of certain neighbouring countries to recognise Kosovo.

Speaking about Montenegro, Jeremic said that relations with Montenegro are very important but they were damaged after Podgorica’s decision to recognise Kosovo.

Montenegrin citizens are treated the same as before in terms of education and medical care, with the only difference being that Montenegro no longer has its ambassador to Belgrade, he said.

Jeremic explained that part of the report refers to the Ministry’s contribution to the energy deal with Russia.

He said that the Ministry has decreased its number of employees by 20% and apart from travel and its intensive diplomatic activity, it has considerably reduced its costs.

The Minister said that the case of student Miladin Kovacevic, a Serbian citizen against who the US government filed a law-suit and who left the US without permission, was also mentioned in the report.

Jeremic said that this event has seriously damaged Serbia’s reputation, adding that the Foreign Ministry employees who were directly involved in this case have been dismissed and the Ministry has pressed charges against them.