One of EU enlargement preconditions is recognizing neighboring countries’ territorial integrity, German Federal Foreign Office State Minister Werner Hoyer says.
After a meeting with Serbian Deputy Foreign Minister Božidar Đelić, the German diplomat said that Germany supported Serbia but stressed that Serbia needed to develop “good neighborly relations”.
“As far as European Union enlargement is concerned, a precondition is to recognize territorial integrity of neighboring countries, of all neighboring countries,” he told reporters.
“We go from a fact that borders in the Balkans have been drawn and that it is a reality that nobody should question,” Hoyer pointed out.
He expressed satisfaction over Hague indictee Ratko Mladić’s arrest and extradition to The Hague.
“I am convinced that Serbia gave a clear signal that its path is toward the European Union and it was confirmed once more (with Ratko Mladić’s arrest),“ Hoyer said and added that he was aware that it had not been an easy step.
He pointed out that there would be no concessions on the road to the EU and that Serbia still needed to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal and continue the dialogue with Priština.
Đelić said that the Serbian government would do everything in order to get support of all EU member states, including Germany, for getting the EU candidate status and setting a date for the beginning of the accession negotiations in the spring of 2012.
“We don’t expect is as a reward, as a privilege, we are very aware that we have to work on further cooperation with the Hague Tribunal in order to get to that moment,” he stressed.
The Serbian deputy prime minister said that he and Hoyer had discussed cooperation between Germany and Serbia in various fields, adding that Germany was the biggest individual donor with EUR 950mn in the past ten years.
“The future will primarily be investments in the field of infrastructure, energy, industry,” he said and stressed that Serbia expected a lot from Germany but that Germany could count on Serbia’s positive contribution to its economy.
Source b92.net
