Djelic predicts Serbia will join EU in four years

01/05/2008

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic predicts that in light of this week's signing of its Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, Serbia will enter the bloc in four years. At a news conference Wednesday (April 30th) he described Tuesday's signing as "a supreme act of patriotism" by him and President Boris Tadic, who also attended the ceremony in Luxembourg. He described Serbia's May 11th elections as a referendum on whether Serbian citizens would like to enter the EU and start applying the SAA or to halt co-operation with the EU and see living standards decline. Djelic noted that by signing the SAA, Serbia can expect gains in terms of investment and exports.

Serbian Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilic offers a very different view, predicting the SAA will not enter into force. "The SAA will become valid when [war crimes indictees] Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are arrested, which means never," Ilic told journalists. He added that by signing the SAA, Tadic and Djelic "ridiculed" the country.

In other news Wednesday, Serbia's Elections Committee approved candidate lists for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Officials say the four largest parties are running 250 candidates each. (Beta, Tanjug, Blic - 01/05/08; RTS, B92, Beta, Blic, Politika - 30/04/08)