Brussels, 12/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 9 December, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton and Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle said the decision made by the European Council on 9 December recognises the progress made by Serbia over recent months and years. In a press release they added that this decision (see EUROPE 10513) “is also a clear sign that the EU wishes to welcome Serbia into its ranks and looks forward to further intensifying its cooperation with Serbia”. Ashton and Füle aid that they were “looking forward to see Serbia progressing on the path to the European Union in the near future and are confident that Serbia can now make the final steps and ensure that the decision to grant candidate status in February can be taken”.
The high representative and the commissioner explained that they were “very satisfied” with Serbia's full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and “the considerable progress” towards fulfilling the accession criteria and the requirements in the Stabilisation and Association Process: “in particular, we appreciate the difficult reforms made to the rule of law and justice system. These are enormous achievements.” They also emphasised that they are encouraged by the progress achieved in the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo and explained that “the latest agreement reached only a week ago and recent positive signals on the implementation of previous agreements indicates that we are moving firmly in the right direction”. (CG/transl.fl)