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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia must completely join European initiatives from next year

Belgrade, 17 December 2009

Deputy Prime Minister for EU integration Bozidar Djelic said today in an interview with the daily Politika that Serbia must act to its full capacity concerning major European initiatives from next year.

The Serbian government website presents excerpts of the interview.

What is implied by the statement that Serbia must act as if it were already a member of the EU?

This means that we should not be limited by requirements of EU integration pertaining only to the visa regime, IPA funds and formal status. These are three key elements of Serbia’s EU integration and we have made major progress regarding all three areas this year. On the other hand becoming part of the EU means a number of other things as well. Now that the Treaty of Lisbon has been concluded, Serbia must be fully active at all levels concerning European plans and activities, just like an EU member country.

Serbia’s place in the financial future of the EU:

I talked to EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn about Serbia’s financial future with the EU, concerning the budget from 2014 to 2020. Serbia must be fully engaged regarding various European initiatives next year. This primarily concerns the transport sector. We will propose an original method of financing the railway. The second thing is the Danube Strategy and we will come up with a full list of projects and suggestions at the beginning of February. Then there is technology. We worked on joint regional and European projects of the technological fund for the Western Balkans and the response was so positive that I believe that a lot can be achieved in this area. The political inclusion of the Roma and the problem of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons are also very important issues.

Serbia’s activities during Spain’s EU presidency:

During the Spanish EU presidency Serbia will have the opportunity to help prepare a pan-European strategy for the inclusion of the Roma. The Serbian initiative to hold a conference concerning the problems of refugees during the first half of next year has also been accepted. Finally we will ask for far more funding for professional exchange programmes.

EU funds management:

In order to receive funding, Serbia must have the right financial system for managing these funds from the moment it acquires candidate status. This is a difficult goal, but I expect that we will achieve it by the end of 2011. We need to reform the financial system at the national and local levels. When we acquire candidate status and reform the financial system we will be able to count on EU support and funding, which will be increased by almost €100 million and will stand at nearly €300 million. If Croatia becomes an EU member during that time, the remaining €350 million which it was to receive will be distributed to other countries of the West Balkans, including Serbia.