Brussels, 08/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The head of the department of European policy at the Polish Foreign Ministry, Artur Harazim, underlined on Monday 7 November that decisions concerning Serbia's candidate status and the opening of membership talks with Montenegro should be taken on 9 December, while a number of countries, like France and Germany, would like decisions to be postponed. “We are working with countries that are still sceptical about this”, explained Harazim during a conference on enlargement organised by the European Policy Centre. He stressed his hope that candidate countries would support the Polish Presidency. “We are in the middle of negotiations. What is clear is that there are 27 of us and that we need the participation and goodwill of Serbia and Montenegro in order to help the Presidency bring things to a successful conclusion in December”, he explained. The director general for enlargement at the European Commission, Stefano Sannino, said it was natural that there should be debate between member states and with the Commission and pointed out that the door to the EU remains open. However, MEP Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA) took the view that member states, looking ahead to elections, are not giving their stance on the situation in any one country but more on whether EU enlargement should be continued or not.
On the matter of Serbia, the director of the European integration office in Serbia, Milica Delevic, underlined that her country hopes to settle its conflict with Kosovo and that dialogue should resume very shortly. “It is in the interest of Serbia to pursue the matter”, she said, going on to recall that the problem between Pristina and Belgrade is a complex one as there are many players involved - the government, parties close to the Kosovar Serbs, the Kosovar authorities, etc. Resumption of dialogue is one of the EU's conditions to be met in order to obtain Belgrade's candidate status. (CG/transl.jl)