Servië wil in 2009 toetredingaanvraag indienen (en)

Serbia wants to apply for EU membership during the Czech Presidency, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic announced today after talks with Czech Deputy PM for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra.

Alexandr Vondra formally accepted this information on behalf of the Czech Presidency and appreciated Serbia´s endeavours to work on fulfilling the EU membership conditions. “We as the Presidency strongly encourage the efforts exerted by Serbia in order to obtain EU membership. Of course, certain conditions must be met. But here as well, for example as regards the cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal, we very much appreciate the progress accomplished by Serbia”, said Vondra.

Stabilisation of the Western Balkans and their integration into the EU are among the Presidency priorities. And Serbia plays an important role in this process. “We consider Serbia to be a gateway to stability in the Western Balkans and the key to this stability is of course EU membership”, said Vondra. He nevertheless pointed out that Serbia still has a lot to achieve on its path towards the EU. However, Serbia’s efforts to join the EU are fully realistic if they continue to be based on hard work and a genuine interest, stated the Czech Deputy Prime Minister.

Another important topic of the talks was cooperation in the area of energy policy. Serbia was among the countries worst hit by the recent suspension of gas supplies from Russia through Ukraine and received some gas supplies from EU Member States under a rescue plan. Alexandr Vondra informed the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister about the EU plans to boost energy security which the Czech Presidency intends to promote. “There must be room for the Balkans in these plans”, stressed Vondra.

The Czech and Serbian Deputy PMs also discussed ways of bringing economic aid to Serbia struggling with the aftermath of the financial crisis like other