EP-commissie voor buitenlandse zaken gaat de aanvraag van Servië voor kandidaat-lidmaatschap in december bespreken (en)

MEPs congratulated Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on his country's pro-European reform efforts at the Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on Tuesday, with a number of them signalling their support for a decision by EU heads of state and government at their summit in December to grant Serbia full EU candidate status.

Committee Chair Gabriele Albertini (EPP, IT) told Mr Jeremic that the European Commission’s recommendation in October to give Serbia official EU candidate status was "a plea for recognition of the processes that are happening in your country". Several Members said it was essential to encourage the country to carry on with its  reforms by giving Serbian citiziens the prospect of a European future.

Mr Jeremic underlined the success of the reforms carried out in Serbia over the past two years. He pointed to its "very strong reform record and exceptional economic policy results”, reminding MEPs that Serbia was one of the very few countries whose credit rating had been upgraded in the current international economic crisis.

However, Members also stressed that Serbia had not met all the international community's requirements. Ulrike Lunacek (Greens, AT), rapporteur on Kosovo, asked why the agreements already reached in the EU-sponsored Serbia-Kosovo dialogue, particularily on Kosova custom stamps and cadastral records, had not yet been implemented.

In response, Mr Jeremic was cautiously optimistic, saying that negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo were starting to show real results for the first time in history. However, he was sceptical about whether the progress on the Kosovo issue would really help to make up the EU’s mind in favour of Serbia: "It would be foolish to expect that solving the problem with Kosovo will move us any further to the EU. A lot of people were made to believe that our cooperation with The Hague tribunal would bring us closer to the EU. It didn’t.”

He also said Serbia was ready for an unfavourable outcome at the December European Summit, while remaining committed to its reform efforts: "We will work on solving our problems. Nobody needs a frozen conflict within its territory. We will stay committed."

Serbia officially applied for European Union membership on 22 December 2009. The European Commission recommended on 12 October 2011 that Serbia be upgraded to official EU candidate status.

In the chair: Gabriele Albertini