At the beginning of the meeting Peter Weiss stressed that Serbia, which expects a positive answer from the EU Council to its request for EU membership candidate status on 9 December, must first convince the European Union member states that it has reached new concrete solutions to some of the outstanding issues in the dialogue with Pristina. He stressed that the EU cannot accept a state with open political issues into its midst.

MP Jelena Trivan responded that Serbia’s negotiations with the Albanian side have been discontinued due to the unilateral action at the administrative border by the Albanians. She believes that the conditions for the continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina would soon be met.

Jelena Trivan said that it was in Serbia’s interest that the situation in the north of Kosovo-Metohija calmed down, but the events demonstrate that a dialogue is not in the Albanian side’s interest.

The German parliamentarians stressed that Germany is among Serbia’s biggest bilateral donors which is not sufficiently apparent in public. They are also ready to strengthen the economic cooperation between the two countries and recommended removing the administrative obstacles to an increased presence of German investors.

The members of the European Integrations Committee said that the inflow of German investment into Serbian economy is not at satisfactory level and that there is potential to boost cooperation particularly in the field of energy production and railways.

The members of the Justice and Administration Committee, headed by Committee Chairman Bosko Ristic also met with the German Bundestag delegation for relations with Southeast Europe.

At the beginning of the meeting, Peter Weiss stressed that cooperation with Serbia is very important for German parliamentarians and deemed that Serbia has achieved progress in the reform of public administration and the judiciary.

Bosko Ristic briefed his German colleagues on the scope of the Justice and Administration Committee with a special focus on judiciary reform. He emphasised the Committee’s role in the reform deeming that considerable progress has been made in the field. He reminded that the National Assembly had adopted a set of laws regulating the courts and the position of judges and that the High Judicial Council and Sate Prosecutorial Council ensure the independence and autonomy of the judges and prosecutors. Ristic also deemed that progress has been made in the fight against organised crime and corruption, as well as in the fight against trafficking in humans in which regional cooperation plays an important role. Addressing the Bundestag MPs the Justice and Administration Committee Chairman emphasised the importance of independent state institutions, independent media and non-governmental organisations in the further democratisation of the political and social system in Serbia.

Biljana Hasanovic-Korac, Vuk Dincic, Nenad Konstantinovic, Vlatko Ratkovic, Branislav Jovanovic and Srdjan Mikovic, Justice and Administration Committee members, took part in the meeting.

In the continuation of their visit, the German Bundestag delegation spoke about the development of economic cooperation between Germany and Serbia with the member of the Committee on Development and International Economic Relations Borjan Agatonovic, Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Tourism Dejan Nikolic, Deputy Chairman of the Agriculture Committee Sinisa Stamenkovic and member Miroslav Marinkovic, as well as the Chairman of the Committee on Urban Planning and Construction Jovan Nesovic and member Bojan Stanojevic.

MP Dejan Nikolic thanked Germany for the cooperation and financial assistance the country provides Serbia and particularly the local self-governments with. Nikolic briefed the guests on the National Assembly’s work so far, stressing that the adoption of the laws on trade, consumer protection and protection of competition have helped organise a stable market in Serbia. Nikolic added that great progress has been made toward liberalizing the market and the upcoming period will focus on investment into clean technologies and renewable energy sources.

MP Sinisa Stamenkovic said that the current National Assembly convocation has managed to establish a new legislative framework particularly in the field of agriculture. Out of the 700 laws adopted, 22 are fundamental for agricultural development in Serbia.

MP Jovan Nesovic pointed out the importance of the adopted laws on planning and construction and on public property for future foreign investment into Serbia. Nesovic also added that local self-governments continue to develop industrial zones.

The Head of the Bundestag delegation Peter Weiss stressed that all the MPs, members of the delegation are also members of the Bundestag’s Friendship Group with the countries of Southeast Europe. He also added that Germany remains Serbia’s biggest bilateral donor so meetings like this help expand the two countries’ cooperation through the exchange of information. Weiss stated that in future the two countries might establish cooperation in the sphere of clean technologies and renewable energy sources.