Fuele handed European Commission EU candidacy Questionnaire with 2,483 questions to Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic

(Stefan Fuele, Mirko Cvetkovic)

European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fuele delivered the European Commission EU candidacy Questionnaire to Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic today, which is one of the conditions for gaining the EU candidate status, daily paper Blic quotes.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic and Director of the Government's European Integration Office Milica Delevic were also present at the meeting.

The EU candidacy Questionnaire includes 2,483 questions and sub-questions divided into six annexes and 33 chapters. It includes questions on absolutely every segment of the society in the state that wishes to get accepted in the European Union, which, in this case, is Serbia.

Fuele noted that Serbia was in a good position on its path to the EU, underlining that a progress had been made in regional cooperation and fight against corruption and organized crime.

He underscored that the delivery of the Questionnaire was an important step for Serbia because EU members have demonstrated strong interest in its accession and because the Questionnaire would give the Serbian authorities a chance to implement the necessary reforms.

Fuele outlined that the EU wanted to see progress in all aspects, as this was in the interest of Serbian citizens, adding that full cooperation with the Hague tribunal was still an important element in Serbia’s EU integration.

The European Commission will contemplate answers to these questions and draft its opinion on Serbia’s application for candidate status on this basis. These data will later be used to determine quotas for Serbia within the EU. As soon as Serbia answers these questions and returns the Questionnaire to the European Commission, the Commission will start composing its opinion, which will take a year to complete.

As part of the process, the Commission may send additional questions to Serbia, as well as expert missions to establish the status in the field. In their evaluations so far, European officials, including Fuele, gave the second half of 2011 as the date for completion of the opinion.

The European Commissioner spoke to President Boris Tadic last night.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo za evropske integracije Republike Srbije