The members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Germany met today at the National Assembly House with Christian Haase, member of the German Bundestag, to discuss improving interparliamentary cooperation, the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo-Metohija and Serbia’s Euro-integration process.
The Head of the Friendship Group Vesna Markovic said that though the two parliaments enjoy excellent cooperation there is still room to improve and deepen communication especially at the level of committees and friendship groups. She said that EU accession remains Serbia’s top foreign policy goal, one supported by its pro-European parliament and more than half of its citizens.
“In view of the important role the Bundestag plays in accepting new EU members and opening new negotiation chapters, we should concentrate on interparliamentary cooperation especially at the level of the Bundestag and the National Assembly’s European affairs/integration committees”, said Markovic.
Haase agreed with the PFG Head that cooperation and sustained communication between the parliamentarians are very important especially since the parliaments do not serve the government, but control it. Haase praised the efforts Serbia invests into its European path saying how important it is to join the community that contributes to peace, freedom and well-being.
Dusica Stojkovic, member of the PFG with Germany and the European Integration Committee, spoke about the course of Serbia’s EU talks. To the 16 negotiation chapters opened so far, two of which are temporarily closer, on 10 December of the prepared 7, Serbia added two new ones. Stojkovic shared her fears that the trap of overly-long EU talks might try the citizens’ patience, hoping that the negotiations would follow an acceptable pace. She went on to talk about the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo-Metohija in the wake of Pristina’s decision to impose a 100% customs tax on Serbian products. She also asked the Bundestag member to inform his fellow parliamentarians about the dire situation in the two clinical centres which are left with no medical supplies and oxygen.
Hasse said he hoped Belgrade and Pristina will find the strength to continue the talks which are vital for the stabilization of the situation.
The meeting was also attended by Gordana Comic, Vladimir Djuric, Nada Lazic and Elvira Kovacs.
