Remarks by President Herman Van Rompuy after his meeting with Prime Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic

EUROPEAN COUNCIL THE PRESIDENT

Brussels, 21 January 2014 EUC

PRESSE 24 PR PCE 13

Remarks by President of the European Council

Herman Van Rompuy i after his meeting with Prime Minister of Serbia Ivica Dačić

It has been a great pleasure to meet with Prime Minister Dačić on the day of the official opening of the accession negotiations with Serbia. I welcomed also the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It's a great day for Serbia.

Today marks an important achievement for Serbia's efforts to join the European Union and opens a new chapter in our relationship. I congratulated the Prime Minister for this important achievement and for his personal commitment to Serbia's European perspective. Indeed, Serbia's progress – in particular on normalisating relations with Kosovo – over the past twelve months has been impressive. This allowed in December the European Council to give its green light to today's official opening of the negotiations.

During the meeting with Prime Minister Dačić, I stressed the importance of maintaining the commitment and political focus on the implementation of all aspects of the Agreement with Kosovo. The European Union expects that both sides continue to work and progress on the normalisation of their relations, so that the changes on the ground become part of the everyday life.

In this new phase of our bilateral relations, I also underlined to Prime Minister Dačić that it is essential to continue paying particular attention to the rule of law, notably the reform of the judiciary, and the fight against corruption and organised crime.

I strongly believe that the opening of these accession negotiations is significant not just for Serbia, but for the whole region. Therefore, I expressed my hope that Serbia's success will have a wider impact on the region, and will constitute an incentive to find solutions based on dialogue. I re-affirmed the Union's unwavering support to the accession process for the Western Balkan countries.

To conclude, Mr Prime Minister thank you for your visit and for your efforts to advance the accession negotiations with the European Union.