Q:
A:
Conditions for EU membership to be assessed more rigorously
Belgrade,
27 May 2010
Director of the Office for European Integration Milica Delevic said that the financial crisis in the Euro zone will not stop the process of Serbia’s and the region’s EU integration but noted that the assessment of the fulfilment of membership requirements will be more rigorous than before.
Delevic said in an interview to Tanjug news agency that the Union has undergone various transformation crises in the past and that there was fear that the enlargement process would stop.
Still, it turned out that there is no intention of giving up Western Balkan integration into the Union, she said.
A crisis is a challenge also for the EU, as from the enlargement aspect it means that there is less time, effort and solidarity that the Union has left remaining to make for that process, Delevic noted.
She expressed the expectation that the first next positive gesture will be made in June, after the publication of the Hague tribunal’s chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz’s report on Serbia’s cooperation with the court.
Namely, in June the EU Council of Ministers could make a decision on the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), Delevic said.
Serbia should receive a questionnaire from the EU and we already have prepared answers based on the questionnaires that had been sent to Montenegro and Albania, she noted.
Speaking about the Croatian government’s decision to present Serbia with the Croatian translation of the Acquis Communautaire, she stressed that such a gesture will save time and money for Serbia.
She also noted that the text will still have to be adjusted to the Serbian language.
EU members are divided regarding the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence, she said but noted that there is a strong consensus when it comes to the need to integrate the whole region in the EU.
The situation is such that regional cooperation and European integration processes will be taking place based on a status-neutral formula, Delevic concluded.
Still, it turned out that there is no intention of giving up Western Balkan integration into the Union, she said.
A crisis is a challenge also for the EU, as from the enlargement aspect it means that there is less time, effort and solidarity that the Union has left remaining to make for that process, Delevic noted.
She expressed the expectation that the first next positive gesture will be made in June, after the publication of the Hague tribunal’s chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz’s report on Serbia’s cooperation with the court.
Namely, in June the EU Council of Ministers could make a decision on the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), Delevic said.
Serbia should receive a questionnaire from the EU and we already have prepared answers based on the questionnaires that had been sent to Montenegro and Albania, she noted.
Speaking about the Croatian government’s decision to present Serbia with the Croatian translation of the Acquis Communautaire, she stressed that such a gesture will save time and money for Serbia.
She also noted that the text will still have to be adjusted to the Serbian language.
EU members are divided regarding the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence, she said but noted that there is a strong consensus when it comes to the need to integrate the whole region in the EU.
The situation is such that regional cooperation and European integration processes will be taking place based on a status-neutral formula, Delevic concluded.
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