Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and the Minister of European Integration and Chief Negotiator, Jadranka Joksimović, have met today with the coordinators of six negotiation clusters to discuss the activities of the Serbian Government in the process of Serbia’s accession to the European Union.
Joksimović has chaired this regular meeting of the Coordination for Conducting Accession Negotiations, the first one following the referendum where citizens supported the Act on the Amendment to the Constitution of Serbia. The conclusion of the meeting is that such result of the referendum enabled further strengthening of democratic institutions, primarily the strengthening of judicial independence and autonomy of prosecution.
As the MEI press release states, it has been agreed that the result of the referendum is one of the most important steps in Serbia’s process of accession to the EU, within Cluster 1 – Fundamentals and the Action Plan for Chapter 23 Judiciary and fundamental rights, since it is one of the key activities in terms of meeting the interim benchmarks under the new methodology.
In addition, it has been said that the reformed way of negotiations demands a stronger progress of candidate countries in the area of the rule of law, so that the pace of negotiations on other clusters would not only be maintained but also accelerated.
In that sense, the participants of the meeting have expressed expectations that cluster 3 – Competitiveness and inclusive growth will be opened during the French EU Council presidency in the first half of the year, given Serbia’s clear progress in the rule of law area.
They have also discussed the activities the Government is undertaking to meet the opening benchmarks within cluster 5 – Resources, agriculture and cohesion, as well as the activities vital for the progress in negotiations on all other areas.
Furthermore, they have particularly discussed the upcoming meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Council between the European Union and Serbia, which will be held in Brussels next week.
It has been noted that the meeting will be an opportunity to have a high-level discussion with the European partners about Serbia’s progress in the preparations for accession, as well as priorities in the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
Source: Tanjug
