On the occasion of 65 year of the signature of Schuman Declaration, within Open Doors activities, Finnish Embassy, with its Ambassador Peka Orpana, hosted some 20 students of Belgrade University.
“Europe Day is celebrated for the 65th time this year, marking the roots of the EU. Serbia is part of Europe and now engaged in accession negotiations. 9 May marks the beginning of construction of safe and prosperous Europe to all of its citizens. Following the beginning of accession negotiations, Serbia should share the same values. This date primarily means the process of peace and unification,” Orpana said.
He showed students the Embassy, pre-World War II building located in Bircaninova street, and held the presentation titled “Finland in the EU” depicting his country that has been an EU Member since 1995.
Orpana said that measured by quality of life within EU, Finland ranked second, but was positioned number one when it comes to freedom of media. The country of 5.4 million citizens, out of which 28 per cent are highly educated, makes GDP of EUR35,000 per capita. Share of industry in their economy is 26 per cent, whereas services make as much as 71 per cent of economy.
Ambassador of Finland said that political relations between the two countries were very good, and what mattered most was the fact that Serbia had begun its negotiations and drawn Europe’s attention to itself.
“Our Embassy is obliged to support Serbia in EU integration process and identify problems on this path. We make sure to maintain the best possible relations with authorities and are pleased to see Serbia find specific fields in the which the process may be accelerated,” Orpana said.
Replying to the question about the importance of Europe Day for Serbia, Peka Orpana said that safe Europe meant stable rule of law, and functional economic systems and freedom of speech.
“Serbia has now found itself on the path to becoming part of EU and we are very supportive of this goal. Serbian citizens will be able to fully enjoy rights of being EU citizens and contribute to its development in the future,” Ambassador said.
Students asked many economy, diplomacy and security questions. One of the comments was that Serbian citizens tend to see EU accession process as a running target due to large number of conditions imposed on Serbia. Orpana said that large number of conditions in such a process was completely normal and that date of Serbia’s accession would not be decided by the EU but by Serbia.
