Brussels, 23/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The direct dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which began on 8 March under the auspices of the European Union (see EUROPE 10330), should soon give concrete results, said Serbian Foreign Minister Vuc Jeremic, on Thursday 23 June. Belgrade takes dialogue with Pristina “very seriously” and “we are nearing the time when the first results are going to start coming out”, the minster said after a meeting with Commissioner Stefan Füle (Enlargement), in Brussels. This is a positive development that no-one could have predicted just a few months ago, he pointed out. Füle, too, welcomed the progress made in talks. Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is “moving in the right direction” and the parties involved have done well to deal with practical issues as a priority, aimed at improving the daily lives of people in Kosovo and Serbia, the commissioner said. “I hope there will be some concrete results in the weeks to come”, Füle said. The commissioner also welcomed the stabilising and constructive role of Serbia throughout the Balkans region. The Commission, as one knows, is actively preparing its “opinion” on Serbia's candidacy for EU membership, which will be published with the progress report in October this year. Belgrade has already made a huge effort to meet the recommendations set out by the Commission in its last progress report (2010), but reforms must be stepped up and even intensified between now and October, Füle said. Since the arrest of Radko Mladic, who has been transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, it is quite likely that the Commission will recommend that member states grant candidate status to Serbia and begin membership talks. Vuc Jeremic told the press on Thursday that the EU had been “lucky” in making the Western Balkans a “success story”. Enlargement policy, he added, is one of the key mechanisms at the EU's disposal for achieving this. The European Council, which opened on Thursday evening and which will end on Friday afternoon, should also touch on Serbia to welcome the arrest of Mladic and affirm, in its final conclusions, that, with this arrest, “Serbia has taken a new step towards the EU”. (H.B./transl.jl)