The European Union is the major partner of the Republic of Serbia in the process of providing international support to the country’s democratic and economic reforms. The priority of Serbia's foreign policy is the development of its relations with the European Union. In the 2005 National Strategy for Accession to the European Union Serbia’s EU membership has been defined as a priority and long-term strategic goal. The short-term objective (for 2007) is to sign with the EU a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and the mid-term objective (by the beginning of the next decade) is full membership of the Republic of Serbia in the European Union.

The process of normalization of the relations, renewal of political dialogue and cooperation between Serbia and the European Union was initiated by the first visit of the FRY President, Vojislav Koštunica, to the European Council (EU Summit) in Biarritz (France, October 2000). At the Zagreb Summit of the countries of the EU and the Western Balkans of 24 November 2000, the countries of the region were taken on notice that they would become "potential candidates for EU membership". And, during the visit of the President of the EU Commission, Romano Prodi, to Belgrade on 25 November 2000, a FRY-EU Framework Agreement on the implementation of the programme for the provision of assistance and support by the EU to the FRY was signed. The Agreement was ratified on 31 March 2003.

In 2002, the Government of the Republic of Serbia established the Council for European Integration Processes as an advisory body designated to follow, review, assess and direct the process of Serbia’s EU membership and the Commission for coordination of the EU accession process, as an operational body. In 2004, the EU Integration Office was opened as a special Government service in charge of the questions of EU accession.

Serbia and the European Union entered a new phase in their relations with the adoption of the "Thessaloniki Agenda for the Western Balkans" which affirmed the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries, and other documents adopted by the Thessaloniki EU Summit and EU-Western Balkans Summit (20-21 June 2003). The basis of Serbia-EU cooperation is defined in "European Partnership for the Republic of Serbia", an instrument with which the EU Commission defines the key priorities, political and economic criteria and the basis of cooperation in the field of EU sectoral policies and follows and assesses Serbia’s progress in the process of its integration with the EU.

In the implementation of one of the decisions of the Thessaloniki Summit, a Joint Declaration on the Political Dialogue between the EU and Serbia was adopted in September 2003. The adoption of the said Declaration, as one of the crucial segments of the so-called "European Partnership", paved the way for the institutionalization of the regular bilateral political dialogue between Serbia and the EU Troika at the foreign ministers level. In addition to promoting Serbia's foreign policy position, the dialogue was expected to prepare Serbia for its future participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (CFSP) and further encourage the process of Serbia's faster integration with the European Union.

The new EU Commissioner for Enlargements, Olli Rehn, visited Belgrade on 24 - 25 January 2005. During the talks with the highest officials of our country, he conveyed the message that the EU wishes to intensify the process of Serbia's integration into the European Union. During his second visit to Serbia and Montenegro on 18-19 April 2005, he assessed that "significant progress" has been made towards full cooperation with the ICTY and welcomed the European Commission's decision on the positive assessment of the Feasibility Study. This decision was confirmed also by the General Affairs and Foreign Relations Council of the European Union on 25 April 2005.

The negotiations for the conclusion of SAP between the Republic of Serbia and the EU were discontinued by the decision of the European Commission of 3 May 2006 on the basis of the Commission’s assessment that Serbia’s cooperation with the ICTY was insufficient.

The conclusions of the meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers’ Council of 17 July 2006 in Brussels contain the EU positions concerning Kosovo and Metohija, Macedonia, Montenegro and regional cooperation. A separate statement on Serbia was made by the EU Presidency at the EU Troika – Serbia meeting, asserting the European perspective of Serbia and noting the possibility of resuming the negotiations on the conclusion of SAP as soon as full cooperation with the ICTY has been achieved, to be signed by the end of 2006.

At the fringes of that meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers’ Council, the EU Troika and the Republic of Serbia held a meeting where Serbia presented its Action Plan for Cooperation with the ICTY. The EU Troika welcomed the Action Plan underlining that it contained an unambiguous commitment to the achievement of full cooperation with the ICTY. They also welcomed the initiative to appoint two coordinators in charge of the specific implementation of the aforementioned plan. They underlined that the Action Plan should be further elaborated, assessing that it provides a sound basis for further work and that its implementation must start immediately.

During the suspension of the negotiations, the EU made efforts to ensure that the process of European integration in Serbia does not lose momentum. The resumption of the dialogue with Serbia, both in the form of exploratory talks, as well as meetings with the EU Troika, reflects EU’s strong determination to keep Serbia on the European track. This approach was also confirmed at the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the EU Troika and Serbia, on 16 October 2006.

In the meantime, cooperation was developed at the state, regional and local levels with the direct involvement of the relevant ministries, i.e. justice, home affairs, defence, energy, transport, agriculture, etc. Additionally, numerous regional initiatives were launched and certain results were achieved in cooperation at the local level.

Since 2001, the two sides have been pursuing a regular dialogue in the form of Enhanced Permanent Dialogue (EPD). At the second EPD plenary meeting held in Belgrade on 10 November 2006, on behalf of the EU Commission, the talks were chaired by Michael Lee, Director of its Directorate General for Enlargement. The latest sectoral meeting in the EPD framework related to transport, energy and the environment was held on 13 February 2007. Announcements have been made that another EPD meeting would follow shortly after the formation of the new Government of the Republic of Serbia.

The EU Commission presented on 8 November 2006 an Annual Report on Serbia’s progress in the implementation of European Partnership. The report was positively tuned, primarily in respect of meeting the economic criteria and implementation of the European standards. A negative assessment was made in respect of meeting the priority of full cooperation with the ICTY and Serbia’s “constructiveness” in the negotiations on the Kosovo and Metohija status and encouragement of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija to participate in the work of the provisional government institutions.

At the regular ministerial meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) held in Brussels on 13 November 2006, the EU Commission was entrusted with the mandate to conduct EU – Serbia negotiations on visa facilitation and the common readmission agreement.

CURRENT STATUS OF THE TALKS AND EU ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GEARC)

The EU GEARC welcomed in Brussels on 12 February 2007 the EU Troika visit to Belgrade on 7 February 2007 and called on the political leaders in Serbia to rapidly proceed to the installation of a government committed to reforms and European future. The Council reaffirmed Serbia’s EU perspective and expressed its readiness to work with the new Government towards that goal. Referring to the Decision of 3 October 2005, the Council welcomed the readiness of the European Commission to resume the SAA negotiations with the new Government in Belgrade which should demonstrate its clear determination to undertake concrete and effective steps along the lines of full cooperation with the ICTY. The EU welcomed the significant progress achieved in the negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission and expects that they will be concluded shortly. The EU is ready to consider additional concrete measures in order to assist Serbia’s accelerated integration with the European family of nations.

In accordance with these conclusions adopted by the Council, the EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, reiterated at the EU Troika – Serbia meeting on 6 March 2007 the importance of the soonest possible installation of the Government in Serbia and expressed EU’s full support to Serbia’s foreign policy priorities, such as resumption of the negotiations and signing of the SAA, presenting its candidature for EU membership and inclusion on the white Schengen list.

Signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA)

The Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) is an agreement with the EU. Its present form has been shaped in 1999 according to the criteria as defined by the European Council at the 1993 Copenhagen Summit. Under those criteria, the Western Balkan countries must direct their political, economic and institutional development towards the values and role models which are the cornerstone of the EU, that is, democracy, respect of human rights and market economy. The signing of the SAA is a step in the implementation of the SAP as a special new approach of the Western Balkan countries to the EU.

The EU is agreed over the need to conclude the SAA with Serbia. The decision on the date of the resumption of the negotiations will be made by the EU Commission which will notify the EU Council accordingly. At the last EPD meeting, the European Commission representative announced redefinition of the European Partnership in respect of Serbia, whose adoption by the EU Foreign Ministers’ Council is scheduled for January 2008. The major political prerequisite of this remains Serbia’s cooperation with the ICTY. However, there still exist certain differences in respect of the sequence of steps on the part of Serbia towards the ICTY.

The EU Commission suggested that the Government of the Republic of Serbia define the strategic approach to the harmonization of its national legislation with the Acquis Communautaire, including the costs of the implementation, which would provide for an accelerated completion of the subsequent steps of cooperation and save many years of negotiations.

The Economic Dialogue meeting was held in Brussels in November 2006 with the participation of a high-level delegation from Serbia. Following the latest sectoral meeting on the domestic market and competition, the EU Commission assessed that Serbian state administration needed capacity building. The EU Commission stressed that it was necessary to precisely define the coordinating structures and mechanisms of the state administration dealing with European integration processes.

Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)

In its 2007-2013 Budget, the EU allocated funds in the amount of EUR 10 billion for the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for the preparation of candidate and potential candidate countrie to utilize the EU structural funds as soon as they become full members.

The IPA has replaced all previous instruments of support to countries with a candidate and potential candidate EU membership status.

The IPA consists of a total of five specialized components for: a) assistance in the process of transition and capacity building aimed at meeting the EU membership criteria and strengthening of administrative and legislative capacities; b) assistance in regional and cross-border cooperation; c) regional development; d) development of human resources, and e) rural development and agriculture.

Before it acquires the status of a candidate, the Republic of Serbia will have access only to the first two components, that is, transition and market reforms funding.

The IPA implementation started on 1 January 2007.

4. Conclusion of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreement

Three rounds of negotiations were held between the EU Commission and the Western Balkan (WB) countries on visa facilitation and readmission agreements. At the third expert meeting (22 March 2007, Brussels), in addition to the existing categories of citizens from Serbia eligible for EU visa facilitation, other categories of persons were included as well, in accordance with the decision concerning the negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission with the WB adopted by the EU Foreign Ministers’ Council Task Force for Visas, according to which the eligibility for visa facilitation should be the same for all the WB countries. The Commission accepted that visa facilitations be granted also to the immediate family members of our citizens living in EU countries.

The Republic of Serbia did not take part in the joint initialing by all WB countries of the Common Agreement on Visa Facilitation and Readmission, in Zagreb on 13 April 2007, because greater precision was needed as to the provisions of Article 3 of the Readmission Agreement. Following the conclusion of the negotiations on the said article, the Government of the Republic of Serbia gave its consent, in its meeting of 26 April 2007, that the Common Agreement on Visa Facilitation and Readmission be initialed.

The initialing of the Agreement between the EU Commission and the Republic of Serbia took place on 16 May 2007 in Brussels. On that occasion, the EU Commissioner for Enlargements, Olly Rehn, stated that, thus the possibilities were created for starting the work on the preparation of a “road map” towards full abolition of visas for the citizens of Serbia, that is, for the inclusion of Serbia in the “white Schengen list”.

The agreements could be signed by September 2007 and enter into force before the end of 2007, whereby the fee of the Schengen visa would be reduced to EUR 36 (from the current fee of EUR 60).

The EU Council meeting on 18 June 2007 in Luxembourg, welcomed the initialing of the Agreement on visa facilitation and readmission with WB countries and underlined that the conclusion thereof will promote human contacts between EU and these countries. The Council underlined the importance attached by the citizens of WB countries to the abolition of visas, expressing hope that all the procedures necessary for the entry into force of the agreement will be fulfilled as soon as possible.

Resumption of the negotiations with the EU Commission on the SAA

The EU Commission and the delegation of the Republic of Serbia headed by Deputy Prime Minister B. Djelic resumed the SAA negotiations suspended a year ago and held the first official round of negotiations on 13 June 2007 in Brussels. On that occasion, a technical round of negotiations was held to review the state of the previous negotiations and identify the outstanding issues that will determine the pace of the meetings in the period to come. The adjustments of the new SAA text were made, incorporating the modifications emanating from the separation of Montenegro and those resulting from the negotiations held between the EU Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro (mainly trade issues).

The next round of technical SAA negotiations should be held in the first half of July 2007, which will primarily address the issues of trade liberalization, including tariffs, trade regimes, agriculture and industry.

June 2007