Heading the delegations of the European Integration and Foreign Affairs Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, their respective Chairmen, Laszlo Varga and Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic, received a delegation of the Spanish Parliament in separate visits today.

The delegation, comprising deputies of the Senate and Congress of the Spanish Parliament, was headed by Alex Saez Jubero, Vice President of the Mixed Commission for European Union Relations.

In the meetings, the Spanish parliamentarians stressed that the Spanish Parliament and the Government fully support Serbia’s accession to the European Union, expressing their wish that it soon becomes an EU membership candidate. Considering that Spain is to act as European Union Chair in the first half of 2010, it will be able to lend Serbia all possible assistance in realising this goal.

The members of the Spanish delegation stressed that Serbia must continue to show evidence of its pro-European convictions, fulfill the political preconditions and apply for EU membership candidacy.

The Spanish guests pointed out the importance of the Lisbon Agreement for EU’s future operation, as well as some problems in its functioning whose resolution can slow down the accession of new members into the EU.

The delegation members of the two assembly committees thanked the Spanish parliamentarians for Spain’s consistent and principled support of Serbia’s struggle to preserve its territorial integrity under the principles of international law. The deputies particularly underlined the importance of strengthening economic cooperation, stressing that economic trade lags behind the otherwise favourable relations between the two countries.

European Integrations Committee Chairman Laszlo Varga listed the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and applying for EU membership candidacy as Serbia’s priorities. Answering a Spanish guest’s question regarding AP Vojvodina, Varga said that adopting a new Statute is in line with the Serbian Constitution.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic expressed his expectation that the abolishment of visas for Serbian citizens’ travel abroad shall lend new impetus to the cooperation between Serbia and the European Union.