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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Schengen ’white list’ most attainable goal this year

Belgrade, 12 March 2009

Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic today stated that the inclusion on the Schengen ’white list’ will be Serbia’s most easily attainable goal this year, adding that state institutions will do all they can to resolve this issue.

Author: www.blic.rs

In an interview for today’s edition of the Blic daily, Jeremic said that this issue is the least burdened by the politics of the EU enlargement process, which is why he thinks it will be an easy goal to achieve.

The Minister said the government and state institutions will do all they can to help citizens travel without barriers, like other European citizens, stressing that the road map for the visa-free regime with the EU was defined separately for each country in the region.

When we fulfil the conditions from the road map, we will enable a visa-free regime for our citizens, said Jeremic voicing his belief that all necessary laws will be adopted as soon as possible.

He reiterated that Kosovo is a foreign policy issue because Serbia chose to defend the province by diplomatic means and it is only normal that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the first line of defence.

Any country in such a situation would dedicate considerable diplomatic resources to this problem, said Jeremic, adding that this is not the only foreign policy priority, as Serbia is also committed to EU integration and regional cooperation.

He said Serbia’s EU integration is a priority this government will never give up on, but the matter is becoming more difficult every day due to the actual foreign policy circumstances.

The Minister said that the consensus of all 27 countries is needed for EU enlargement and it is less and less attainable due to economic issues, which reflect on the political sphere.

He recalled that there are clearly defined institutional steps on this road which cannot be skipped, stressing that Serbia’s next step is unfreezing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which is particularly difficult because of the discord amongst EU members when it comes to Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague tribunal.

The task of diplomacy is to persuade these 27 countries that Serbia has fulfilled all conditions, however the Netherlands thinks that this will be true only when Ratko Mladic is extradited to The Hague, explained the Minister.

As for Serbia’s strategic links with Russia and their effect on the relations with the West, Jeremic said that Serbia’s main priority is EU membership, adding his belief it cannot be affected by those links.

He stressed that when it comes to energy, Serbia’s strategic relations with Russia are no different than those a number of EU members have also established with Russia, adding that Serbia is currently closer to Russia than the USA, since there are no current issues with Russia.

Speaking about opening new consular offices, he stressed the priority is the consular office in Knin, since thus the return of refugees can be better facilitated.

However, the financial situation is difficult and we do not have embassies in all EU countries, so we are more likely to close some consular offices than open new ones, he explained.