- PRAGUE: Serbia’s foreign minister says his country hopes to become soon an official EU candidate country after last week’s arrest of its last war crime suspect, a critical condition for the opening of membership talks.
Vuk Jeremic said Monday in Prague that: “We hope that come the end of the year, Serbia will be awarded a candidate status.”
The EU’s executive arm is due to present a progress report on Serbia in October that is expected to conclude it has fulfilled the requirements for candidacy. Member states should adopt the report by December.
It would still take years for Serbia to meet all the reforms demanded by the EU.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said Monday the Serbian journey to EU membership is “long, difficult but certain.”
