McAllister: Serbia should be ready for EU entry

SVILAJNAC - European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur on Serbia David McAllister said on Wednesday that the EU is ready for new members, but it will take time for Serbia to be ready for EU entry.

At the start of his visit to Serbia, McAllister told reporters that it is his personal opinion that 2015 is a good moment to open the first chapters in the negotiations with Serbia, but that it is up to EU member states to decide on that.

He said that in January he filed a first draft of the report on Serbia's progress, to which 222 amendments were lodged, and voiced hope that he would submit the final report proposal at the EP plenary session in March.

This week is decisive for my report. I have come here to hear various messages from different sides that I should pass on to the EP, McAllister said in Svilajnac, central Serbia, where he attended the opening of the kindergarten that was renovated thanks to EU funds, after having been damaged in the devastating floods that his Serbia in May 2014.

In the statement to reporters, McAllister said that he visited Kosovska Mitrovica in northern Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) on Tuesday, and talked with Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in Pristina earlier on Wednesday.

He said that he discussed many issues with Mustafa, the most important being Chapter 35 relating to the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, and described his visit to Kosovo as very successful.

McAllister said that on Thursday he will meet with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and representatives of all political parties and NGOs so as to finalize his report on Serbia.

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