DJELIC: CLEAR VALIDATION OF SERBIA'S EU INTEGRATION

BELGRADE, Feb 1 (Tanjug) - Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic stated that the decision on full implementation of the ITA between Serbia and the EU represents a clear validation of Serbia's speedy EU integration. Djelic told that such EU's decision fully validates the policy of the Serbian government, which decided to unilaterally implement this very important agreement with EU in Jan 2009. "Owing to our activities, but also the activities of the EU, at the first meeting of the committee for the control of the implementation of ITA to be held in Belgrade in the third week of March, we will be able to consider the implementation which lasts more than a year, rather than only several weeks that the agreement will be implemented bilaterally," Djelic pointed out. According to him, the result of Serbia's decision to begin implementing ITA last year was not only the reduction of certain prices for domestic consumers, particularly in the import of cars, but also of other goods. The full implementation of ITA between Serbia and the EU has begun Monday, whereas Serbia began unilaterally implementing the ITA one year ago.

BELGRADE/LONDON, Feb1 (Tanjug) - The full implementation of the ITA between Serbia and the EU, the final objective of which is to create a free trade zone, has begun today, the British BBC stated. BBC reports that the Director of the European Integration Office Milica Delevic assessed that the implementation of the agreement represents a clear political signal and opens a path for Serbia's EU accession. The analysts point to the great significance of the ITA implementation. Consultant at the European Institute for Economy and Commerce Dragomir Jankovic assessed that with the implementation of ITA Serbia is becoming a predictable partner and therefore more attractive for foreign investments. "On the other hand, Serbia makes a good bridge towards the eastern market, and the companies from the West will certainly be interested in that. Taking this into account, Serbia can be an attractive place for foreign investments, that is for the creation of new companies, which would export their products in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine under more favourable conditions," Jankovic stated for BBC. The agreement envisages trade liberalization between Serbia and the EU, which has given rise to criticism that the reduction, that is the abolishment of customs duties, may harm the Serbian economy. However, Jankovic believes that the benefits from the implementation of the agreement are greater than the possible damages.

BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Tanjug) Serbia officially joined in Brussels the drafting of the EU strategy for the Danube Basin Countries, Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Ðelic told. Serbia will also host next autumn a summit to consider ways of financing the strategy, he said. The strategy will be officially presented during Hungary's term of EU presidency in the first half of 2011, he said. This will be the first strategy in whic Serbia will be involved from the outset on equal footing as all EU memberstates, he said after a meeting with European Commission for EU Regional Policy Directorate General Director Dirk Ahner.The Danube strategy is a great future EU macroregional strategy similar to the one drafted last year for the Baltic region, Ðelic said. Serbia has considerable potentials, suc as nearly 600 kilometers, or a quarter of the total navigable length of the Danube, he said. It also has considerable potentials in infrastructure, environment protection, tourism and transport and will therefore be very active in drafting and implementing the strategy, Ðelic noted. Considerable funds from the EU budget will be earmarked for the strategy, he said. Serbia's participation in the strategy will also enable it to consolidate its role as a key country in transport in southeastern Europe, he said. By linking the Danube Corridor 7 with the railway and road Corridor 10, creating a cargo center and developing multimodular transport, Serbia will become a logistic center of southeastern Europe, he said.

NOVI SAD, Feb 1 (Tanjug) - Ahead of the conference "EU Strategy for Danube Region," President of the Vojvodina Assembly Sandor Egeresi said that Vojvodina will, together with Serbia, take an active part in the drafting of a Danube strategy in the coming months, because it is of great importance for the European integration process. The conference, which is being held under the auspices of the European Commission in Germany's town of Ulm today and tomorrow, will officially open a series of meetings of representatives of the most important European institutions, states and regions through which the Danube River runs, in order to prepare a strategy for setting up of a Danube Euro-region. Egeresi, who is also deputy president of the Council of Danube regions and towns, evaluated that the Danube region is important for our country because it is the best way to exploit the domestic natural, industrial, tourist, ecological and other resources, and thus strengthen the position of Serbia in the Eu integrations, stated by Egeresi's office.

BELGRADE, Jan 30 (Tanjug) Serbia's application for the status of a EU candidate state might be forwarded to the European Commission to give its opinion in spring, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has evaluated. In an interview for Vecernje Novosti, Bildt said that Serbia might gain the candidate status even before the ratification of the SAA gets unfrozen. Expressing his optimism in regards to Serbia's further progress towards the EU, Bildt said that the Western Balkans has made a certain progress and that it is no moving forward faster than before. Of course, there are still outstanding issues, but I believe that the situation is better than six months ago, said Bildt. Speaking about the time needed for the application to be discussed, Bildt said that there is a kind of a parliamentary process within the EU institutions now. One of the things that has taken place over the past several years is that national parliaments need to give their opinion when it comes to certain decision making within the EU, said Bildt, adding that it will be the same in Serbia's case, just as it was in case of Albania and Montenegro. Let's say that all Western Balkan countries should be in a strong acession program by 2014, whic is ambitious enough, said Bildt.

BELGRADE, Jan 29 (Tanjug) Serbia does not have to become a NATO member in order to enter the EU, and the country should decide on its own whether to join the North Atlantic Alliance or not, representatives of a delegation of the European Commission (EC) and the USA Embassy in Belgrade stated. Serbia's NATO membership is not the precondition for the EU membership. There are countries whic are in the EU but not in NATO, and that is a fact, Cief of the Political Section of the EC Delegation Thomas Gnochi said at a conference dubbed 'Let's talk about NATO.' At the meeting organized by a nongovernmental organization 'EuroAtlantic Studies Centre', he said that the EU and NATO share a number of positions on the security policy, and added that it is good that Serbia has public debates concerning the geostrategic course the country should follow. Deborah Mennuti, Cief of Political Section in the USA Embassy, said that it is not a secret that the USA government would like to see Serbia in NATO, but pointed that this is Serbia's decision. Serbia is the one that should decide on the matter, she said, reminding that Serbia and the USA have partner relations in the military field, as well as in the enforcement of the reforms in a number of fields. Mennuti pointed out the Alliance's economic component in the member states, especially from the aspect of safety and security whic is important for the potential investors in Serbia.

BELGRADE, Jan 29 (Tanjug) President of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences (SANU) Nikola Hajdin conferred with Spanish Ambassador to Belgrade Inigo de Palacio Espana. Hajdin expressed hope that during its term of EU presidency, Spain will do everything to encourage the EU Council of Ministers to ratify the SAA with Serbia. The main EU tasks during Spain's presidency will be implementing the Lisbon Treaty and overcoming the global recession, Palacio Espana said. Other priorities will include human rights, gender equality and cildren's rights, he said. All 27 EU memberstates must give their approval if Serbia is to get the status of associate member, for whic it applied in December 2009. SANU hopes to foster cooperation with the Spanish Institute, a SANU release says.