At the sitting held on 1 November, the European Integrations Committee considered the Report on the Implementation of the Amended and Modified National Programme for Integration of the Republic of Serbia into the European Union (NPI) for the period July - September 2010.

Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European integration Bozidar Djelic said that the NPI was 121% fulfilled in this quarter, and the overall fulfillment at the moment amounts to 78% which is a satisfactory level. Both last and this year, the National Assembly played an important role in it by adopting numerous laws. He reminded the Committee that the National Programme for Integration of the Republic of Serbia into the EU envisages the completion of domestic and European Union legislative harmonisation by the end of 2012.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the Council of Ministers’ decision on forwarding the candidacy request to the European Commission is an important step in Serbia’s approach to the EU. He announced that the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Füle will officially hand in the questionnaire, containing four to five thousand questions, to the Serbian Government on 24 November and expressed belief that the completed questionnaire would be returned to the European Commission in the first quarter of next year. Afterwards, in the second quarter, additional EC questions and deployment of a technical mission are to be expected, followed by an official European Commission opinion on Serbia’s candidacy for EU membership, in October 2011.

The Deputy Prime Minister believes that Serbia will gain membership candidate status in December 2011, stating that the Government aims to open negotiations for Serbia’s EU membership straight after.

He repeated that full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and completion of the judiciary reform are essential for Serbia’s continued integrations.

Deputy Prime Minister Djelic highlighted the National Assembly’s important role in the continuation of Serbia’s EU integrations and urged the deputies to work on passing new laws and participate in dialogues with European parliamentarians as it assists Serbia’s approach to the EU.

Director of the European Integration Office Milica Delevic stressed that such a positive Report on NIP Implementation demonstrates that the July-September period saw the fulfillment of not only outstanding obligations, but also some obligations planned for the next quarter which indicates that activities should be planned better. Some very important laws have been passed, such as the laws on consumer protection, air transportation etc. The new EC Progress Report, expected in November, will evaluate not only the indicator of the number of laws passed, but the very procedure for their adoption would be considered, starting from the quality of the consultations and debate at the National Assembly and enforcement of the laws. The progress achieved is the result of the Government and National Assembly’s joint efforts. She drew attention to the fact that, within the Government, the capacities of the Republic Secretariat for Legislation should be strengthened.

The debate on the Report gave rise to the estimate that the step achieved on the road towards the EU and opening of the SAA ratification process exacted a high price which was the Kosovo Resolution adopted at the United Nations in September. The European Union was also said not to be the only institution that Serbia should join so that the Government would recognise the Kosovo-Metohija independence for the sake of integrations.

Deputy Prime Minister Djelic stressed that the Serbian Government policy on Kosovo-Metohija has not changed and that the Government should defend the same goal by other means.

The sitting was chaired by Laszlo Varga, Committee Chairman.