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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Poland endorses Serbia’s EU candidacy

Belgrade, 6 May 2011

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said today after the meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that relations between the two countries are on a high level, but that economic cooperation is significantly below the level that could be achieved.

Donald Tusk, left, and Mirko Cvetkovic at today's press conference

Cvetkovic said at a joint press conference held after the meeting that during the talks it was confirmed that during Poland’s upcoming presidency of the EU, this country will do everything to support the process of European integration of Serbia.

He expressed hope that today's visit of Tusk to Serbia, as well as the planned visit of Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric to Warsaw, will contribute to the promotion of economic cooperation between the two countries.

The Serbian Prime Minister also commented on the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) in the Polish parliament and expressed his belief that Poland will not be the last country to ratify the document.

Speaking about the problem of illegal immigrants, Cvetkovic said that it is normal and expected for countries that have received visa liberalisation just recently and explained that in the case of Serbia it appeared on a larger scale because Serbia got the visa-free regime during the big economic crisis.

The Serbian government took measures as soon as it found out about the problem, he underlined and recalled that one of the measures was the formation of a special commission in charge of monitoring the situation in this field.

This problem is a sensitive issue because it also enters the area of human rights, Cvetkovic stated and called on the media to report more on the police activities aimed at resolving this problem.

Cvetkovic reiterated that the Serbian government’s Commission for monitoring the visa-free regime with the EU is actively working on preventing the departure of false asylum seekers from Serbia to EU countries.

It does so via two channels, the Prime Minister explained and specified that the first one is prosecution of those who violated legal regulations and issued documents without previous checks, as well as documents that do not match the facts.

The second channel, he added, is the increased raising of public awareness that the problem of false asylum seekers is a problem of all of us and that we should dissuade people from such intentions and discourage such attempts.

Tusk confirmed Poland’s readiness to assist Serbia on its European path and stated that all Western Balkan countries aspiring to membership in the Union have the full right to do so.

He announced that during its presidency of the EU in the second half of this year, Poland will promote Serbia politically in order to help it get the EU candidate status.

The Prime Minister of Poland confirmed that his country will ratify the SAA of the EU and Serbia by the end of the year.

Poland will also advocate that the funds that countries receive upon obtaining the candidacy be available to Serbia beforehand.

Tusk underlined that his country does not belong to the group of EU countries that ask for the abolition of visa-free regime for Serbia and called on the Serbian authorities to show that they are doing everything in their power to prevent the problem of false asylum seekers from spreading.