Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for EU Ljubica Vasic had talks today with Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of the EU Delegation in Belgrade. They discussed topics related to Serbia's EU integration, implementation of the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina and starting the EU-Serbia negotiations.

Ambassador Davenport assessed that the relations between Serbia and the EU entered a new phase by the June European Council decision to open membership talks with Serbia. He highly evaluated the results achieved by the Serbian Government in fulfilling the political criteria, the implementation of the Brussels Agreement and reforms, as confirmed in the latest report of the European Commission. He said that the screening process of chapters 23, 24 and 32 thus far was very successful and expressed the hope for an early start of negotiations between Serbia and the EU.

Assistant Minister Ljubica Vasic underlined that the Republic of Serbia and its state authorities were fully committed to the process of European integration. She expressed the hope that the elections in Kosovo to be held on 3 November, despite the moves and obstruction by Pristina, would be peaceful and that the Serbs would go to the polls in large numbers. In this context, she expressed her expectation that the European Commission would submit, as soon as possible, to the Government of Serbia the negotiating framework, which would enable the Intergovernmental Conference to be held by the end of the current year, or in January 2014 at the latest, as set out in the June decision of the European Council. She particularly emphasized the importance attached by the Government of Serbia to the projects and training related to the implementation of the EU acquis, as well as to public administration reform and the role of the Department for the EU in the preparation and development of the negotiation process of Serbia.