Putting together team for talks with EU "top priority"

Putting together team for talks with EU "top priority"

BELGRADE -- The Serbian government will make an effort to open Chapters 23 and 24 in accession negotiations with the EU by the end of the year, says Jadranka Joksimović.

These chapters deal with particularly delicate and important matters, according to Serbia’s minister without portfolio responsible for EU integration.

“It is important we cooperate and coordinate with each other and move on to resolve the situation in these important areas for our state through judiciary and police reform, fight against corruption, fight against organized crime, human rights, media reform,” Joksimović said for May 1 holidays' edition of Belgrade-based daily Danas.

Joksimović said it is important that a national program for the adoption of the acquis is implemented soon.

She stressed that the government’s European Integration Office have been doing their job well in the past and have shown they are capable of coordinating the European integration activities.

Asked when a core negotiating team will be formed and who may be on it, Joksimović said that, according to a relevant decision currently in force, team members, by their positions, include the state secretary at the Finance Ministry in charge of the budget, a state secretary at the Foreign Ministry and Serbia’s ambassador to the European Union, and the head of the negotiating team.

“I cannot talk about specific names for now, but the general public needs to know that our goal is for the members of the negotiating team to be top experts," she said. “Forming the negotiating team is our top priority and I expect that its composition will be discussed at government meetings in the...