Ministers bereiden EU-top voor en geven positief advies over toekennen kandidaat-status toetreding tot EU aan Servië (en)
Minister for European Affairs Nicolai Wammen and High Representative Catherine Ashton i during today's meeting.
The EU General Affairs Council under the chairmanship of Minister for European Affairs Nicolai Wammen today agreed to recommend granting Serbia candidate status. The Council looks forward to the confirmation of this decision by the March European Council.
Minister for European Affairs Nicolai Wammen states:
"I am very satisfied with today’s decision which I find fully deserved. Today we say loud and clear that Serbia belongs in Europe. The decision marks a new chapter in Serbia’s relations with the EU. The road to eventual membership of the EU requires hard work for Serbia. It will not be an easy task. But my meetings with President Tadic of the Serbian government in Belgrade last week confirmed my impression that Serbia is ready to deliver what it takes. We need to support this for the benefit of Serbia, the Balkans and Europe.’
The Council also took note of the intention of the Commission to launch a feasibility study for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Kosovo.
In the meeting today, the Council also prepared the upcoming European Council, which takes place on 1-2 March in Brussels. The main topic of the Council will be the economic situation. It is foreseen that the EU Heads of State and Government - among other things - will agree on general recommendations for EU Member States’ economic policies which the Member States will have to take into account when planning their national economic policies. At the meeting today there was a common understanding that fiscal discipline must go hand in hand with the promotion of growth and employment.
Nicolai Wammen states:
"There is an agreement among member states that we must pursue a two tiered approach to get out of the crisis. We must continue to ensure fiscal discipline and implement structural reforms e.g. of labour markets and pension systems. At the same time we have both on national as well as on the EU-level to launch initiatives to promote growth and employment. This corresponds very well to the approach of the Presidency. Denmark therefore looks forward to this week’s summit. It is now up to the EU Member States in the time to come to show that we are ready to live up the objectives we have set.”