Voorzitter Europarlement Buzek brengt bezoek aan Balkanlanden (en)

The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek i, will start Wednesday 2 November 2011 an official visit to Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The visit will end on Saturday 5 November, after a visit to the Potocari genocide memorial in Srebrenica.

Ahead of the visit President Buzek stated:

"2011 has been a good year for enlargement in the Western Balkan peninsula. We are giving flesh to the ideals of the Thessaloniki summit of 2003. We are together turning the Western Balkans' European vocation into a reality.

Countries in the Balkans have made progress to different degrees on their path to join the European family. I urge this progress to continue and even accelerate in 2012.

My message for the visit is simple: the door to EU membership is open, but the willingness to enter must be proved through hard facts. Further reforms are needed not only to advance on the European path, but first and foremost for the benefit of the people. They should aim at strengthening the rule of law, regional cooperation and economic competitiveness. Corruption should be attacked at all levels.

I look forward to discussing these issues as well as cooperation between the European Parliament and national assemblies during my visit."

Official Programme of the Visit - Key Points

Wednesday, 2 November 2011 - Zagreb

10:00 Meeting with Jadranka Kosor, Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia - Press point to follow - Office of the Prime Minister

11:00 Meeting with Luka Bebic, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Frišcic and Željka Antunovic, Deputy Speakers, Vesna Pusic, Chairwoman of the National Committee for the monitoring of accession negotiations, and Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Co-Chair of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee - Croatian Parliament

11:45 Press point with Luka Bebic, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament

15:00 Roundtable discussion with NGOs - EU delegation

16:00 Meeting with Ivo Josipovic, President of the Republic of Croatia - Press point to follow - Office of the President

Thursday, 3 November 2011 - Belgrade

10:30 Meeting with Slavica Dukic Dejanovic, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia - National Assembly

11:00 Public address at the plenary session of the National Assembly of Serbia

11:30 Press point with Slavica Dukic Dejanovic, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia - National Assembly

15:30 Meeting with Mirko Cvetkovic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Božidar Delic, Deputy Prime Minister - Office of the Prime Minister

16:15 Joint press point with Mr Mirko Cvetkovic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia - Office of the Prime Minister

17:15 Public debate with university students, youth branches of political parties and civil society - Youth Centre of Belgrade

18:30 Meeting with Mr Boris Tadic, President of the Republic of Serbia - Presidential Palace

Friday, 4 November 2011 - Sarajevo

9:30 Meeting with the leadership of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH: Denis Becirovic, Speaker, Milorad Živkovic and Božo Ljubic, Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives; Ognjen Tadic, Speaker, and Suleiman Tihic, Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples - Parliamentary Assembly

Morning Meeting with the Presidency of BiH: Željko Komšic, Nebojša Radmanovic and Bakir Izetbegovic

Noon Press Conference - EU delegation

17:00 Keynote speech at the event organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the New Initiatives Centre: "Democratising Europe - the impact of Parliament and Civil Society" - Conference Room of Hotel Europe

Saturday 5th November, 2011

Morning Visit and laying of a wreath at Potocari genocide memorial - Srebrenica

Note to editors:

TV footage of the visit of the President will be available in broadcast and web quality on Europe by Satellite at the following link:

http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/schedule.cfm?sitelang=en&page=3&institution=0&date=11/02/2011

Photos will be available for download at the following link:

http://audiovisual.europarl.europa.eu/

Contact

• - 

  Marcin Grajewski

  Press Team Leader

  Mobile: +32 498 981 550

• - 

  Giacomo Fassina

  GSM: +32 498 98 33 10