Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport officially opened the EU stand at the 59th International Belgrade Book Fair and on this occasion said that Serbia made a great progress on the EU path in the last year and that despite challenges and obstacles, membership negotiation talks were not slowed down a day.
Davenport noted that Serbia was making good progress in the screening process with the EU, and that European Commission’s Progress Report was encouraging.
He added that as of 1 November new European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker would take office, and the fact that new enlargement Commissioner would be Johannes Hahn was important to Serbia, given that he knew Serbia well.
Reminding that in July, EU and Serbia signed Memorandum on Cooperation and Information Exchange, Davenport stressed that “books made Europe what it is today” and expressed his belief that books would help Serbia join the EU.
Davenport expressed his hopes that books and brochures, published by EU Info Centre, with the latest being European Mosaic, would find their way to Serbian homes, and announced that 6th edition of Europa Diary for pupils and teachers in Serbia would soon be published.
According to him, European Literature Award, with one of the this year’s laureates being Ugljesa Sajtinac, helps Serbian authors to find way to 500 million readers in Europe.
Sajtinac said he was honoured to have his book noticed by the European Commission, which was a good thing for other authors from the region, and expressed his hope that every year at least one of Serbian authors would be honoured the same way.
Head of Serbian negotiating team Tanja Miscevic highlighted the fact that European Union were Serbia’s biggest donor, having donated EUR2,6 billion since 2001, and added that the assistance was also welcome through various publications from which one could learn about the EU.
We need more knowledge and understanding in order to learn what lies ahead in the negotiating process, Miscevic said.
Flute quartet “Flautino Lola klasik” performed at the opening of EU stand in the Hall 4 of the Belgrade Fair, whereas it was attended by EU Member States’ ambassadors, volunteers, pupils and directors of high schools from Obrenovac to which books for libraries were donated.
