Serbia: White List “Feasible” by End of Year

The Serbian government has done its utmost to enact necessary laws for Serbia to accede to the Schengen “white list” by the end of 2009, says the European Integration Office.

European Integration Office Director Milica Delevic told B92 that a special migration management strategy and three action plans were required to conclude this process.

She stressed that besides adopting the laws, the manner in which they were adopted was also critical.

“The time frames that our officials have been mentioning fit into the time frames quoted by European officials. Commissioner [Olli] Rehn also said that getting on the Schengen white list was feasible by the end of the year,” said Delevic.

She said the head of the European Commission delegation in Belgrade had also hinted at this possibility by the end of the year.

“I think we need to focus now on completing everything that remains while we wait for the report, to help create the impression that we’ve created a predictable climate, and that we have a good capacity to apply these laws,” explained Delevic.