Brussels, 28/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - At their plenary session in Brussels on Thursday 28 March, the members of the European Parliament called on the EU to open negotiations with Serbia. “I firmly believe that Serbia is ready to launch itself into accession negotiations, it has the most advanced administration in the region”, stressed Jelko Kacin (ALDE, Slovenia), rapporteur to the EP on the resolution on the European integration process of Serbia. He was supported by many colleagues from all political parties and by European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle.
“Serbia has the capacity to mobilise in order to bring negotiations closer (…). It will continue on its European path, this sends out a very strong message to the whole region”, Füle explained. “Stability is indivisible and by assisting Serbian integration, this will contribute towards European stability”, said Miroslav Ransdorf (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic), who explained that Serbia is the central economy of the region. Miroslaw Piotrowski (ECR, Poland) stressed the country's successes, particularly as regards judicial reform.
However, the MEPs also stressed that Serbia still needs to make many efforts. Like Maria Eleni Koppa (S&D, Greece), the German MEP Franziska Brantner (Greens/EFA) laid emphasis on the neighbourhood relationships, particularly with Kosovo. “Shared border management is an essential point, and until the agreement is signed, the Parliament must remain vigilant”, Brantner stressed. In the view of Gyorgy Schopflin (EPP, Hungary), the “government still has a lot of work to do”: Serbia needs to deal with the independence of Kosovo and its government needs a “bottom-up reform”. In his view, and in that of many others across the political persuasions, Serbia needs to improve further the measures it has taken towards (non-Serbian) minorities, who do not have the same rights as Serbs, and promote their integration. The need to step up the fight against corruption and crime was also raised by the MEPs. (CG/transl.fl)