European Union-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (SAPC) Chair Dr Vladimir Orlic said he was very pleased by the Slovenian Parliament Speaker’s visit which contributes a great deal to strengthening cooperation between the two parliaments.

Orlic went on to say that EU accession is Serbia’s foreign policy priority and the majority of the MPs support Serbia’s European integration. European integration has also been following a trend of steady growth in the last couple of years, reaching 52% public support according to the latest polls. Dr Vladimir Orlic stressed that the EU’s positive signals are encouraging and show that the evaluation of Serbia’s reforms is fair and that the EU recognizes the efforts invested in the reform processes.

Speaking of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija and Pristina’s recent increase of customs taxes on Serbian products and blocking the negotiations, Orlic said it is vital that the reactions of the EU and its member states be adequate and clear. He thanked Slovenia for its principled stance and reaction to Pristina’s violation of the agreements reached.

The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia Dejan Zidan said that Serbia’s EU accession is important both for the country and its people and praised its economic growth. He said that Slovenia understands Serbia’s stance and expects a clear reaction from the EU on Pristina’s recent actions.

Zidan went on to say that it would be good to advance interparliamentary, as well as cultural, agricultural and IT cooperation.

The meeting was attended by MPs Dusica Stojkovic, Milija Miletic, Ljiljana Malusic, Elvira Kovacs and Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic, as well as Slovenian parliamentarians Dr Anze Logar and Predrag Bakovic. They agreed that Serbia and Slovenia enjoy good bilateral relations and that there is room to advance cooperation between the parliamentarians. They also spoke about the EU’s perspectives and the coming European elections.