Solana met Serbian Leaders

Belgrade, July 14, ( Serbia Today) – High Representative for Foreign Policy and Safety Javier Solana began his visit to Belgrade Monday with a meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. They expressed their confidence that the citizens of Serbia will soon receive good news from Brussels in regards to the visa regime liberalization.Minister Jeremic spoke to Solana about Serbia's EU future, and that Kosovo was discussed in the context of regional security. At the meeting with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, both Javier Solana and Cvetkovic agreed that visa liberalization is of the utmost importance to Serbia and its citizens. After meeting with Solana, Cvetkovic said that his cabinet is dedicated to EU integration and full cooperation with the Hague tribunal.
Solana commended the Serbian government’s efforts regarding EU accession and overcoming the crisis. Speaking about the global crisis, Solana said that we can see "the light at the end of the tunnel", adding that the first concrete results will be visible after the September summit of the Group of Twenty.First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic informed Solana about the criteria from the road map that Serbia has fulfilled and the moves that the Interior Ministry undertook to improve police cooperation in the region. He also pointed out to the practical importance of cooperation between the Serbian police and UNMIK and EULEX, as illegal activities in the region can only be prevented by joint efforts.
At the meeting with Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic, Javier Solana and Bogdanovic agreed that it is unacceptable that the problems in the southern Serbian province are solved by unilateral decisions without the consent of the Serbian government and Kosovo Serbs.Bogdanovic told the press after meeting with Solana that the main topics of the meeting were the police, judiciary and customs in Kosovo.
Solana said after meeting with Serbia's president Boris Tadić that the EU is not complete without Serbia and that there will be no new pre-conditions for Serbia's candidacy for full EU membership. Solana commended the Serbian government's decision to start implementing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) unilaterally at the beginning of this year, and expressed hope that by completing cooperation with Hague Tribunal, Belgrade would create the conditions for the EU decision on unfreezing SAA. He expressed his conviction that the Serbian government will do everything to meet the last pre condition of completing cooperation with the Hague and that things will move forward more speedily.