EP president: Serbia can do more

Source: Politika

BRUSSELS -- Most member states will support the start of the accession talks with Serbia but Serbia could do more, European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schultz says.

Martin Schultz

Schultz says that Serbia “has had some important successes during President Boris Tadić's mandate and the EU appreciates it“.
“I am completely convinced that a great majority in the EP will support the beginning of Serbia’s EU accession talks as soon as possible,” he stressed.

The EP president added that Serbia could do more “by convincing the EU member states to offer it the candidate status by playing an even more constructive role in the region”.

“Serbia should move forward in normalization of relations with Priština. The two sides need to discuss concrete issues, such as diplomas, trade, telecommunications, even if they do not agree on the big issues,” he explained.

Schultz added that Serbia deserved to get the EU candidate status thanks to the progress it had made on the EU pathway. He repeated that the EP’s decision needed to be unanimous but that it was still unclear whether all EU leaders would support the EP’s position in March.

“Serbia has started to completely cooperate with the Hague Tribunal by arresting Karadžić, Mladić and Hadžić. You have accepted the Declaration on Srebrenica. There have been some difficult decisions. But it’s better to look toward the future instead of staying in the painful past,” Schultz noted and stressed that Serbia had made progress in the judicial reform, combat against corruption and strengthening the rule of law.

He added that the EP strongly supported the EU enlargement as “one of the most successful EU policies”.

“I would not be honest if I said that there is no enlargement fatigue in some member states. However, Croatia’s accession shows that the EU is committed to the enlargement even if the times are difficult,” the EP president was quoted as saying.