Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović has assessed today that the EU Member States will not be able to ignore the reforms and progress Serbia has achieved, adding that she expects Serbia will open clusters 3 and 4 by the end of the year.
At the meeting of the European Integration Committee, Joksimović has said that, for the first time in the last several years, the European Commission has made a recommendation in its Report that Serbia has met all criteria for the opening of two clusters.
“Whether this will happen, whether the Member States will support the opening of one or two clusters, this really now depends on the Member States’ analysis, their views on the enlargement policy”, said Joksimović at the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.
Presenting the report on Serbia’s EU accession negotiations during the Slovenian presidency, Joksimović has assessed that the EU Member States will have a common insight, and that the reforms Serbia has implemented and the EC recommendation cannot be ignored.
“So, I still expect us to open one of the clusters by the end of the year, maybe even both of them. As the report indicates, Serbia has done its part of the job, it is now the EC’s job to find a way to valorise it in a credible way”, said Joksimović.
She has added that the Negotiating Position for Chapter 28 has been adopted at a recent Government session, but that they have agreed not to burden the EC with new negotiating positions until the Member States give the necessary consent for the opening of two clusters.
Joksimović has recalled that the EC Report will be discussed at the plenary session, i.e. that it will soon be presented to members of parliament.
The Minister has pointed out that the Report was prepared in line with the criteria of the new methodology, and has dismissed the criticism she has heard as unsubstantiated.
“The Report does not say that the situation is ideal, nor is this the point of the Report. We are satisfied because it correctly notes everything that Serbia achieved through various formats in such a challenging year”, said Joksimović.
She has stated that the process regarding constitutional amendments is being finalised, recalling the positive opinion of the Venice Commission.
“If we’d had a chance to organise the referendum, I am sure the assessment would’ve been ‘good progress’, and I think that is why the assessment remained ‘limited progress’”, said Joksimović, adding that they are now waiting for the Venice Commission’s opinion of the Draft Law on Referendum.
Source: Tanjug
