After talking with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ana Brnabic said that the new European Commission has started working with new energy and a new membership negotiation methodology that is more sensible and understandable for citizens, with the announcement of an economic plan that will be supported for progress towards the EU.
The Serbian Prime Minister also noted that the new methodology also foresees some unfavorable moves, namely that the negotiations could be reversed if there were no tangible results, but said that Serbian authorities would analyze and see what was more favorable to the country.
She stressed that in all meetings with international officials it was noted that Serbia was making progress and that “Serbia is the first country to enter the EU, although we still need to work hard and prove ourselves by reforms”.
And, she said, Serbia cannot continue its stable economic growth without a stable Western Balkans, so Belgrade is committed to launching membership negotiations with Skopje and Tirana, while the Union has huge support for the “mini-Schengen” initiative.
The new methodology seems much clearer and more practical to me, offers a more negotiated perspective in the related chapters, and “offers the possibility of much more significant and serious financial support to support the process”, which will be adopted at the EU-Western Balkans summit in May in Zagreb.
“It would mean a lot to us”, the Serbian Prime Minister said, adding that she had discussed the matter with the President of the European Commission and Andrej Plenkovic, the Prime Minister of Croatia.
Ana Brnabic pointed out that it is very important for regional integration to build infrastructure, which is very expensive.
She noted that this is precisely why Serbia has built and is building a network of highways connecting it with neighboring countries, and stressed that the construction of a railway network is of great importance.
“It’s all very expensive, and if we were to get more European Union funding for that investment and economic plan for that purpose, it would be fantastic and allow us to grow faster”.
Ana Brnabic added that in the talks in Brussels, she pointed out that economic progress also requires energy, which, given the EU’s program of transition to “green energy” and environmental protection, it will be necessary for Serbia to accept for its citizens and the region, and it is essential to have huge financial investments, Danas reports.
“That is the support I believe we can expect, but,” she concluded, “we will discuss this in Zagreb”.
