Bozidar Djelic, left, and Franco FrattiniPhoto: Fonet
After a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, Djelic said that Serbia is ready to do its share of the work and that it showed this readiness by starting the unilateral implementation of the interim trade agreement with the EU.
He said that Serbia’s road to the EU will neither be quick nor easy but plans are being prepared ahead of time, adding that all ministries have been told to prepare a response to EU questionnaires regarding the integration process.
We have started preparing for that which will hopefully await us next year, said Djelic, stressing that Italy’s explicit support has given Serbia the strength and will to struggle on.
Frattini said that Serbia has chosen the right moment to apply for candidate status and after that it will be up to Serbia to work hard to achieve its ambitious goal of acquiring candidate status by the end of next year.
Serbia has made major progress and produced concrete results because of which our friends from the Netherlands allowed the implementation of the interim trade agreement. Now the future is in your hands. That what was conveyed to us by Serbian President Boris Tadic and Serbian officials is indeed a very ambitious plan, said the Italian Foreign Minister.
He said that he was always against sanctions against Serbia and in favour of a positive attitude, adding that it has been proven that this was the right approach.
Frattini said that after submitting the application for candidate status Serbia will have a lot of work to do to reassure the few EU countries who are still doubtful that Serbia deserves positive signals.
Djelic, who is also Minister of Science and Technology, signed with Frattini a memorandum concerning scientific cooperation between the two countries.
After his meeting with Frattini, Djelic travelled to Stockholm where he will join President Boris Tadic tomorrow who will submit Serbia’s application for EU candidacy.
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