Opening the meeting, National Assembly Speaker MA Nebojsa Stefanovic emphasised Serbia’s firm commitment to continue the process of European integration and expressed his belief that the National Assembly would greatly contribute to it. Speaker Stefanovic hopes that the Lithuanian Parliament will soon ratify the Stabilisation and Association Agreement which will help speed up Serbia’s Euro-integration process. The fight against crime and corruption and improvement of human rights are among the most important tasks Serbia is to tackle on its way to the European Union, said Stefanovic.
In the introductory part of the meeting, the participants were addressed by Suzana Grubjesic, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Vincent Degert, Head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia.
Deputy Prime Minister Suzana Grubjesic stressed that the Government of the Republic of Serbia is pro-European and Serbia endorses the Euro-integration of the entire region. She went on to stress that Serbia has made considerable progress in its approach to the European Union citing as proof the fact that since the last dialogue between the European Union and Serbia, Serbia has been granted the status of EU candidate. She also said she believed that Serbia would receive a positive assessment in the European Commission’s annual Report on the progress of EU candidate countries, to be published in October of this year.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Vincent Degert, expressed his pleasure at the fact that Serbia has made considerable progress not only in the Euro-integration process, but also in the sphere of regional cooperation. He listed the promotion of human and minority rights and regional cooperation, stability of control and independent bodies and need for fiscal stabilisation as key challenges for Serbia in the upcoming period.
In the course of the two-day meeting, the members of the National Assembly and European Parliament exchanged opinions with the representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and European Commission on the political situation in Serbia and future Euro-integration perspectives. They also discussed the fight against corruption and organised crime, European Union pre-accession funds, situation in the Serbian economy, regional cooperation and relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
The Chairman of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, Eduard Kukan, said that he appreciated the efforts Serbia put into its approach to the EU so far, and conveyed the readiness of the European Parliament members to offer Serbia advisory assistance in the process. Serbia is the key factor of stability in the region, and the National Assembly with its work lends the Euro-integration process legitimacy, stressed Kukan.
European Integration Committee Chairperson Milica Delevic said that Euro-integration is one of Serbia’s most important foreign policy goals and Serbia would continue to play an active role in the process.
At the end of the Sixth Interparliamentary Meeting European Union – Serbia, the two delegation heads adopted a Joint Statement. On the occasion the delegation heads Milica Delevic and Eduard Kukan held a press conference where they confirmed that the two sides would continue to cooperate on Serbia’s approach to the European Union in future.

Click here to view the Joint Statement of the delegation heads.