Serbia Rebuffs Merkel's EU Criticism

Jadranka Joksimovic, the Serbian minister in charge of EU integration, said on Monday that contrary to the impression given by Merkel, Belgrade was rapidly implementing the tough but necessary reforms that will help the country on its way to EU membership.

“Both the EU and Germany see that. The regional approach, which is important, certainly in its entirety provides a slightly different picture of the pace of reforms,” Joksimovic told daily newspaper Danas.

“We expect to be judged in relation to our own efforts and results, it is the only fair and rational approach in the process,” she added.

Her statement came after Merkel said that, although there has been some progress in the Balkan region, when it comes to the reforms related to the EU integration process, “it goes at a snail's pace”.

Top Serbian officials will have the chance to put their case Merkel in person in Berlin on Thursday at a conference on the economic potential and prospects of the Western Balkan countries.

The conference will bring together representatives from Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia.

Meanwhile Joksimovic also said that she does not expect that the pace of Belgrade’s EU integration process will be slowed due to country’s stance on Ukraine and Russia.

Serbia has resisted Western pressure to impose sanctions on Russia and has adopted a neutral stance on the crisis in Ukraine.

Last week, the government received a memo from Oskar Benedikt, deputy head of European Union delegation to Serbia, asking Belgrade not to make use of Moscow’s ban on EU goods to expand exports to the Russian market.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that the country would...

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