During its two-day visit to Serbia, 6 and 7 April 2009, a delegation of the Permanent Advisory Council of the Bundesrat met separately at the National Assembly with the head and one member of the Democratic Party of Serbia – Vojislav Kostunica Deputy Group, Milos Aligrudic and Nikola Lazic, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic and European Integrations Committee Chairman Laslo Varga.

The members of the German delegation headed by Dr Kerstin Kießler, Chairperson of the Permanent Advisory Council, were interested in the current political situation in Serbia and its prospects on the road to the European Union.

In the meeting with Milos Aligrudic the officials discussed the obstacles hindering Serbia’s European integration, viz. full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo-Metohija. Aligrudic stressed that the Kosovo issue can only be resolved by continuing the negotiating process.

Dragoljub Micunovic deemed that the National Assembly and Bundesrag enjoy favourable parliamentary cooperation and that the friendship groups contribute to strengthen relations between the parliaments of the two countries. Responding to the questions of the German delegation about Serbia’s European road, he said that there is a temporary halt in the cooperation with the European Union and pointed out the familiar problems impeding Serbia’s European integration. Micunovic is of the opinion that the obstacles to Serbia’s speedier accession to Europe would be overcome more easily and its problems solved more efficiently if Serbia were inside the European Union.

In the talks, European Integrations Committee Chairman Laslo Varga stressed that joining the European Union is one of Serbia’s foreign policy priorities and that the European Union supports Serbia on its road to Euro-integration, but that no specific moves have been taken. According to him, the abolition of visas would present one such positive signal by the EU to the Serbian public.

To the German parliamentarians’ question about the position of ethnic minorities in Serbia, he stressed that in this area Serbia has progressed more than even some neighbouring countries, members of the EU. In Serbia, minorities which have established their own local self-government are guaranteed collective rights, and problems that arise in the area are intermittent. Regarding the position of Roma, that is not an ethnic minority issue, but a social issue, Varga said.