Serbian Minister of European Integration expects Serbia to open another three chapters within EU accession talks by year’s end even though, she said, the country is ready to open five.
She said she did not feel like commenting on metaphors about Serbia sitting on the fence, adding that European integration was the best response Serbia could make to both complex international relations and the country’s own need for progress.
“Serbia has embarked neither on Eurasian nor Euro-Atlantic integration. It has set itself about European integration which is the best approach to positioning itself in both domestic and foreign policy,” Joksimovic said at the International Book Fair where the Ministry of European Integration presented its latest publications “Arguments for Europe” and “Myths about the EU.”
By the end of 2017, Serbia will have prepared five chapters, but realistically speaking, she said, we can expect the opening of up to three or four chapters. Minister added that the Government had adopted a negotiating position for chapter 13 dealing with fisheries the day before.
Joksimovic also said that Brussels was preparing a special report on the implementation of chapter 23 and 24 Action Plans.
Speaking about the publication “Arguments for Europe,” Joksimovic said “our goal is for people to understand that negotiating chapters are not abstract numbers, that in fact they bring tangible and concrete change for the better in their everyday lives.”
According to her, among the myths about the EU is the fear that membership in the EU would strip Serbia of its independence or that people will not be allowed to write in Cyrillic alphabet, all of which are untrue. To illustrate her point, Minister Joksimovic said Bulgaria never stopped using the Cyrillic alphabet.
Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Mateja Norcic Stamcar welcomed the initiative spearheaded by the Ministry to bring Serbian citizens closer to EU values and benefits of future membership, adding that certain studies showed that people were still poorly informed about the EU.
“I remember when Slovenia was in the process of EU accession. As a young civil servant I used to talk about the benefits of EU membership,” she said.
As Slovenia was getting closer to the EU, the whole nation participated in the process, she said.
“We are now a happy EU country with our own identity, enjoying all the benefits the EU brings. We still have our cviček and potica, of which we are very proud, just as you are proud of rakija,” Norcic Stamcar said.
