Belgrade, April 23, 2010

SERBIA - EU

JEREMIC: SERBIA MOVING TOWARDS EU FASTER THAN EVER
ORASAC, April 22 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Ministers Vuk Jeremic said Thursday in Orasac, near Arandjelovac, that the Serbian government wants to secure better life for the people even in the present difficult circumstances.
The Serbian government will not give up its priorities, he said. Serbia is moving towards the EU faster than ever and has never been more successful in defending what everyone thought was lost and that is Kosovo, Jeremic said. Serbia has never been so important for peace and stability in the Balkans, he said. Serbia has inherited many problems, but has demonstrated that those important and complex problems can be resolved in a dignified and peaceful manner without entailing any dangers, he added..
Serbia has a serious, balanced and wise state policy with clear goals, he said. The Serbian government has demonstrated firmness and ability with withstand pressures without entailing the risk of any dangers, he said. The Serbian government will not give up the priorities set by President Tadic, Jeremic said.

LETERME ON SERBIA'S EU CANDIDACY
BELGRADE, April 23 (Tanjug) - Outgoing Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has stated that the Spanish presidency of the European Union is maintaining contact with other member states on Serbia's application for accession in the Union and that is how the appropriate moment for including the issue in the agenda of the Council of Ministers will be decided.
Serbia is currently carrying out a number of justice, economic, legislative and other reforms in order to get closer to Europe, it has implemented its obligations from the Provisional Agreement and got prepared for its future membership in the EU, Leterme said in a statement published by Vecernje Novosti today.
"The EU has opened doors to the Western Balkan countries and it will remain open. The perception 'tired of the enlargement' is wrong. No one in Europe thinks of questioning our engagement regarding the Western Balkan countries. They are our future partners within the EU," underlined Leterme. Leterme also said that the mass influx of asylum seekers from the south of Serbia and Macedonia in Belgium has been "under control" since early March, adding that the problem will not jeopardize the visa regime liberalization for Serbia.

SERBIA

DJELIC: RESOLUTION CONFIRMS BETTER U.S.-SERBIA RELATIONS
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Tanjug) - The recently adopted resolution by the U.S. Senate is a confirmation of an improvement in the relations between U.S. and Serbia, which happened after the two countries' presidents, Barack Obama and Boris Tadic, were elected, Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said Thursday.
"The resolution, initiated by a group of very influential and highly regarded senators from both the Democratic and the Republican Party, is a significant contribution to stronger relations between the U.S. and Serbia," Djelic told Tanjug.
According to Djelic, another important thing is that the resolution calls upon the EU to put Serbia's application up for consideration by the European Council as soon as possible. "It is an important piece of support ahead of the EU summit in June," Djelic explained.
The deputy prime minister said that the resolution indicates that Joseph Biden's visit last year was beneficial in a number of ways. Djelic, who is on a visit to Washington, is going to sign an agreement on science and technology between the two countries, the first one in 30 years.

SENIC: SENATE RESOLUTION TO IMPROVE BILATERAL RELATIONS
BELGRADE, April 22 (Tanjug) - Head of the Serbian parliament's friendship group with the U.S. Vlajko Senic said Thursday that the resolution passed in the U.S. Senate encourages a continued development of the two countries' relations.
According to a statement issued by the parliament, Senic said that the U.S. has provided key support for political, economic and defense reforms in Serbia over the last ten years. "Joining Partnership for Peace in 2006 and applying for EU membership prove that Serbia remains committed to European integration. Securing full U.S. support can considerably speed up the entire process and allow our citizens to become part of the Euro-Atlantic family of nations sooner," Senic stressed.
He added that "wrapping up the cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, actively participating in Partnership for Peace and gaining EU candidate status will make Serbia the key U.S. partner in the region and potentially the leader in the Western Balkans." The U.S. Senate passed a resolution congratulating Serbia's application for European Union membership and called on the European Council to adopt a position on Serbia's qualifications in due course.

SKUNDRIC VISITS ENERGY COMMUNITY IN VIENNA
VIENNA, April 22 (Tanjug) - Serbia should represent a Western Balkan gas ring that will ensure a full supply of natural gas to the region, Serbia's Energy Minister Petar Skundric said in Vienna on Thursday, where he headed a ministry's delegation on a visit to the Energy Community (EC) and met with its director, Slavtcho Neykov.
"We had a very good meeting with the EC Secretariat about all relevant issues regarding the Serbian energy sector and the country's involvement in EC policies," Skundric said after the meeting. "Serbia saw its opportunity to make a move and enter the EU right away, through a full EC membership, as well as to solve the biggest and most important issues regarding its own energy sector and those of the region's countries, like ensuring stable supplies of certain fuels, natural gas for example, or problems related to the transport of electricity, as well as the issues with the oil industry," Skundric noted.
The minister said the EC has a lot of understanding for the problems Serbia and the region face, adding that there is plenty of will to solve all problems together in order to increase energy efficiency and supply stability. The EC was formed in Athens in 2005 and it comprises 25 EU countries and countries of the southeastern Europe - namely Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and the UN Mission in Kosovo, which represents that territory.

CROATIA SUPPORTS REFORM OF SERBIA'S DEFENSE SECTOR
ZAGREB, April 22 (Tanjug) - Croatia supports the reform of Serbia's defense sector and wants to use its experience as a NATO member to help in raising the standards that neighboring countries are implementing within the Partnership for Peace program, State Secretary in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Davor Bozinovic said on Thursday.
Meeting the State Secretary in the Serbian Defense Ministry Dusan Spasojevic, Bozinovic said that Partnership for Peace program provides a useful framework for reform implementation and for cooperation in the defense sector, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said. In addition to integration in Euro-Atlantic structures, Croatia gives priority also to regional cooperation and to support to neighboring countries in their aspirations, Bozinovic said. He and Spasojevic agreed that the possible participation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the action plan for NATO membership is good news and a step towards regional stabilization and cooperation.
Spasojevic informed Bozinovic on Serbia's intensive bilateral cooperation in defense with many countries, the release says. They also agreed that cooperation between Croatia and Serbia in the defense sector has a special place in bilateral relations.

SERBIA AND CROATIA HARMONIZE DEFENCE AGREEMENT
BELGRADE, ZAGREB, April 22 (Tanjug) - Serbia's and Croatia's secretaries for defence, Dusan Spasojevic and Pjer Simunovic, harmonized a defence agreement in Zagreb on Thursday, which should be signed by the two countries' ministers of defence.
Serbia's Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac was also officially invited to visit Croatia, according to the Serbian Defence Ministry's website. Spasojevic and Simunovic discussed the two countries' military cooperation and agreed that it could be improved. Both sides stressed the importance of regional cooperation in defence, describing it as a significant factor in regional stability and adding that the two countries have cooperated well as part of regional security initiatives.

SERBIA TO ENJOY ONE OF REGION'S HIGHEST GROWTH RATES IN 2010
BELGRADE, April 22 (Tanjug) - The latest forecast of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) puts Serbia's economic growth in 2010 at two percent, which is one of the highest growth rates in the region. IMF's World Economic Outlook report estimates that Serbia's economic growth will go up to three percent in 2010.
Annual inflation, measured by the consumer price index, will reach 4.8 percent in 2010 and again in 2011, estimates IMF. Albania is expected to enjoy the region's highest growth rate of 2.3 percent in 2010 and 3.2 percent in 2011. According to IMF estimates, Albania will have an inflation rate of 3.5 percent this year and 2.9 percent next year.

KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

IVANOVIC: SERBS MUST REMAIN IN ZAC AND DRAGOLJEVAC
KRALJEVO, April 22 (Tanjug) - State Secretary with the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija Oliver Ivanovic said Thursday that survival of Serb returnees in the Zac and Dragoljevac villages in the Istok municipality could be crucial for the decision of more displaced persons to return to Kosovo-Metohija.
The international community in the province fully supports the establishment of returnee villages and condemns the stoning of returnees in Zac, he said. There are about 800 people on the UNHCR list in Kraljevo only who have opted for return, he said. They are therefore carefully watching the fate of 29 families in Zac and 18 families in Dragoljevac, he said.
The much higher number of IDPs who have decided not to return to Kosovo must also be considered and they need help in integration, Ivanovic said. The Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija and the city of Kraljevo should apply for such projects together, he said. Ivanovic conferred with Kraljevo Mayor Lubisa Jovasevic and visited the UNHCR office.

ZANNIER WILLING TO MEDIATE IN DIALOGUE ON PRACTICAL ISSUES
PRISSTINA, April 23 (Tanjug) - United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Chief Lamberto Zannier said in Pristina on Thursday that he is ready to play the role of a mediator in talks between the Albanian and Serbian communities in the province. It would be a low-level dialogue in which progress in certain areas, particularly in the north of Kosovo, would be sought, Zannier said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
A year and a half ago, the authorities in Belgrade and UNMIK have agreed on a six-point plan for Kosovo, which was approved by the UN Security Council, but it has yet to be implemented. The six points regulate the status of Serbs in the areas in Kosovo and Metohija in which they make up the majority of the population. The points refer to police, justice, duty payment, traffic, infrastructure and protection of the Serbian cultural heritage. The provisional institutions in Pristina opposed the plan which was backed by all 15 members of the UN Security Council.
Zannier also expressed his concern over Pristina's initiative for the north of Kosovo which he believes could cause problems. Zannier also said that a decision of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo might complicate the situation further, expressing his opinion that this does not mean that the ICJ's decision would make things easier in the province. In October 2008, Serbia requested, and the UN General Assembly backed it, an advisory opinion from the ICJ on legality of the self-proclaimed independence of its southern province of Kosovo and Metohija on February 17, 2008.

UNHCR CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON SERBS IN THE VILLAGE OF ZAC
BELGRADE, Apr. 22 (Beta) - In Zac, a village near Istok in Kosovo and Metohija, unidentified persons during the night of April 21 and 22 pelted both UNHCR tent camps housing 26 families of Serb returnees with stones several times.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) condemned the throwing of stones at the Serbian families who returned to Zac and asked that those responsible be punished.
"The UNHCR appreciates the statements from all the responsible organs in Kosovo and hopes that they will continue to invest time and effort in preventing these kinds of incidents and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice," reads a statement by Eduardo Arboleda, the head of the UNHCR office in Serbia.
Arboleda underlined that the stance of the UNHCR was that all displaced persons in Kosovo and Metohija had the right to return to their homes and that they did not have to ask anyone's permission.