Frattini: Reforms take Serbia out of crisis and towards EU

BELGRADE - Italian Society for International Organisation President Franco Frattini said on Thursday the set of reforms the Serbian Prime Minister had presented recently would pull the country out of the crisis and improve Serbia's outlook regarding EU integration, adding that he believed the upcoming report by the European Commission would be positive.

The reforms presented recently by Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic are strong and comprehensive, and that they would pull Serbia out of the crisis it is in, Frattini told Tanjug during the 4th Belgrade Security Forum.

He thinks that is the reason why Serbia's chances of joining the EU are improving, adding that this is the first time the Serbian government has lived up to expectations and presented tangible results.

He hopes Serbia could open the first chapters of the accession talks with the EU by the end of the year and thinks Chapter 32 might be the first.

The former European commissioner and Italian foreign minister sees that chapter as very important because it involves transparency related to economy.

Frattini, who is also the president of the Council of the Italian Supreme Administrative Court, feels there might be good progress when it comes to chapters 23 and 24 as well, which are related to the judiciary and security, and explains that this would also include the approval of the related action plans, if not the opening of the chapters themselves.

He also thinks the European Commission's report on Serbia's progress scheduled to be announced next week will be pretty positive.

Commenting on the Ukrainian crisis, which was the topic of Thursday's discussion at the forum, Frattini states that three things should be done,...