Economides: Postponing chapters not due to elections

BELGRADE - Greek Ambassador to Serbia Constantine Economides has said he believes that the postponement in opening the first chapters in the negotiations between Serbia and the EU has nothing to do with the recent European elections and elections in Serbia.

It probably has to do with remarks possibly made by some members, the ambassador of Greece, the country which has just ended a successful EU presidency, said in an interview for Belgrade-based daily Politika.

He pointed out that speculation about the EU being perhaps overcome by the crisis in Ukraine was not true, stressing that dealing with the crisis in Ukraine and the accession process were two completely separate processes, in no way connected to each other.

Economides said that for a lot of political and historical reasons, it was important that the process of Serbia’s accession had started during the Greek EU presidency.

Greece feels sorry that several accession chapters were not opened during its presidency, but at the same time, Greece is satisfied about the reports on the process of screening being positive for 18 chapters, said Economides.

It means that the EU could soon start drawing up further documents required in Serbia’s accession process, he said.

Overall, Serbia has made good progress on its path to membership of the EU, the Greek ambassador said.

Photo Tanjug, N. Milosevic