Greeting the guests, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Veroljub Arsic expressed his pleasure at the visit of the members of the Czech Senate Committee on EU Affairs which, he said, actively supports Serbia’s Euro-integration process. He thanked the Czech Republic for its unconditional support in the European Council session of 22 December 2013 when it was decided to open pre-accession talks between Serbia and the European Union. Arsic said that Serbia and the Czech Republic enjoy very good bilateral, economic and political cooperation, and he believes an improvement in interparliamentary cooperation would deepen the overall relations between the two countries. The National Assembly Deputy Speaker opined that the Czech Republic’s support of Serbia’s European integration is consistent and continuous and thanked the Czech Republic for the letter of support for Serbia’s EU candidacy. Arsic thanked the Czech Republic for its diplomatic support in making sure that Serbia would not be additionally conditioned as regards the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. He also thanked the Czech Republic for the humanitarian aid it sent Serbia during the May floods.

The Chairman of the Czech Senate Committee on EU Affairs deemed the long-standing relations between the Czech Republic and Serbia very good. He stressed that the Czech Senate Committee on EU Affairs considers Serbia and the countries in the region extremely important in the Western Balkans. Krejci is sure that the European Commission report on Serbia, which is supposed to be adopted this week, would be positive and contribute to Serbia’s approach to the European Union.

The Chairman of the Czech Senate Committee on EU Affairs also asked about the Serbian citizens’ opinion about Euro-integration and the recovery process after the May floods.

The National Assembly Deputy Speaker informed Krejci that the Serbian Government is employing the appropriate measures to house the people whose houses were flooded, repair the infrastructure and contain the damages suffered by the Serbian Electric Power Company. Arsic said that the fact that in the March election the three parties who were against EU accession failed to win enough votes to pass the parliament threshold best speaks of the Serbian citizens’ position on Euro-integration.