Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina is important for the whole region and it is important that Kosovo and Serbia continue dialogue and tackle new challenges and reform their societies, emphasised European Commissioner for Enlargement at the European Parliament session. Kacin: For less than a week Serbia will step on a historic road, which will lead this largest Western Balkans country to the full membership in the European Union.
STRASBOURG, 15 January 2014 (FoNet) – Serbia and Kosovo can encourage positive changes in those parts of the Western Balkans where progress is not satisfactory, stated tonight European Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle and highlighted that Serbia and Kosovo achieved significant progress in reforms and normalisation of relations and it is necessary that they maintain impetus in integrations.
It is important that, together with them, we keep positive impetus from the last year, said Füle at the European Parliament session, discussing Serbia`s and Kosovo`s progress reports.
Good news from the Balkans
Füle emphasised that the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina is important for the whole region and it is important that Kosovo and Serbia continue dialogue and tackle new challenges and reform their societies.
He said that good news about renewed dialogue, increased intra-regional trade and building of bridges, comes from the Balkans.
Füle stressed that Serbia and Kosovo’s European aspiration is crucial in their desire to normalise of their relations.
Improvement of relations between Serbia and Kosovo had led to a number of important decisions, particularly in the north of Kosovo, and a key milestone had been local elections, said Füle and endorsed European Parliament`s reports on Serbia and Kosovo.
Füle emphasized that Serbia and Kosovo deserved to take next steps on the path towards the EU.
He recalled that the European Council adopted in December the negotiating framework for Serbia and decided to have the first Intergovernmental Conference on 21 January.
European Union had shown that it can follow the model of reconciliation, said Füle.
Permanent commitment
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, a country that holds the EU presidency, Dimitris Kourkoulas, pointed out that Athens is supporter of enlargement and intends to continue to support and strengthen links between the EU and candidate countries.
Our aim is to contribute to the European integrations of the Western Balkans countries, said Kourkoulas and thanked the European Parliament for its strong support to the enlargement policy.
Kourkoulas mentioned that Serbia and Kosovo had showed permanent commitment to achieve progress in the normalisation of relations through dialogue and they had managed to achieve results that seemed to be impossible a few years ago.
We welcome the decision that Serbia can open accession negotiations and that Kosovo can start the negotiations on Stabilisation and Association Agreement, pointed out Kourkoulas.
Historical road
For less than a week Serbia will step on a historic road, which will lead this largest Western Balkans country to the full membership in the European Union , pointed out European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin and said that enlargement process would not be complete without the Western Balkans states.
Serbia from a regional hostile had become a leader of integrations when Prime Minister Ivica Dacic offered a hand to his counterpart Hashim Thaçi in the dialogue that had led to the April Agreement, said Kacin.
With that, emphasised Kacin, Serbia opened the road for the full normalisation of relations with Kosovo.
According to Kacin, there is a lot of work yet to be done, but the first step was crucial and by far the hardest.
Further progress regarding this issue will be closely monitored through the Chapter 35 of the accession negotiations, said Kacin.
He indicated that the reform of the judiciary, which will be a theme of the Chapter 23, will remain the essential issue.
To solve all crimes
In order to ensure smooth negotiations on this Chapter, Serbia will have to provide evidences on high-level corruption evidences, said Kacin.
He stressed that Serbia must show that all crimes of “Milosevic`s secret services” have been solved.
“The political background of the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic must be revealed once and for all, because Serbia cannot afford to have that shadow on the credibility and stability of its institutions”, said Kacin.
He said that he is absolutely certain that the EU enlargement project will not be complete until the very last Western Balkan country becomes EU Member.
“I hope that we will be much closer to that goal by the end of the next EU mandate”, concluded Kacin.
Kosovo`s first step to the EU
European Parliament Rapporteur for Kosovo Ulrike Lunacek emphasized that a huge step was made in integrations last year, and that the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina was historical not only for Serbia, Kosovo and Balkans, but also for the whole Europe.
The fact that Kosovo starts negotiations on Stabilisation and Association Agreement represents the right step towards the EU accession, said Lunacek.
She urged five EU Member States that have not recognized independence of Kosovo to do so.
“The future of Kosovo is in the EU, it is a European country and I hope that we will help its progress with our reports “, concluded Lunacek.
