Tadić: EU candidate application after ITA

Serbia will apply for EU candidacy after the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) has been unfrozen, says President Boris Tadić.

Speaking in Belgrade on Thursday, he added that “time for candidacy is right when it is clear that we will get a positive answer from the EU”.

“Our wish is to make this decision effective, meaning that we don’t want our application to lay for months in a drawer of some European committee, but instead to9 receive a positive answer from EU institutions as soon as possible,” the president stated.

According to him the first step would be the unfreezing of the trade deal – which is a part of the suspended SAA, and which Serbia has been unilaterally implementing since the start of this year.

“A series of complex reforms lie ahead of us, but first we have to elevate the quality of life in Serbia. Everything we are doing in foreign politics is a part of the goal which includes Serbia’s membership in the EU,” he said.

According to Tadić, it is more important for the citizens of Serbia that the country becomes a member of the EU as soon as possible instead of just formally meeting the requirements for EU membership.

“Our international activities are a part of the plan and strategy which should bring results. I really do not care at all what all this looks like to the public, I care about the results of our actions. If we were primarily interested what it appeared like to the public, we would be in a hurry to apply for membership,” he said.

Tadić explained that the unfreezing of the Trade Agreement with the EU had to come before the membership application.