Joksimovic: Support for opening first chapter by end of year

Joksimovic: Support for opening first chapter by end of year

VIENNA -- Jadranka Joksimovic has said that Serbia has received strong support from Austria.

Serbia's Minister without Portfolio in charge of European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic has said that Serbia has received strong support from Austria, and expressed the expectations that the first chapter in accession negotiations with the EU will be opened by the end of the year.

"Austria strongly supports Serbia on its road to the EU and is a reliable and good partner of Serbia's on this path," Joksimovic said in a statement for Tanjug after talks with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and Jan Kikkert, Political Director at the Foreign Ministry, in Vienna on Thursday.

Joksimovic says Minister Kurtz will visit Serbia next week, staying in Belgrade and visiting the regions hit by a devastating flooding in May that Austria has helped rehabilitate.

"I believe that Austria will strongly support the opening later this year of Chapter 32, and probably 35. It is therefore very important for us to do everything that we can, but also not to ignore the importance of the support we have got from our partners in Europe, and Austria is one of the most important partners of Serbia on its European path," said Joksimovic.

"I think that enlargement is not a policy that has lost significance in the EU, despite all the crises and reforms the Union is going through. Austria is one of the most reliable supporters of EU enlargement, particularly when it comes to expansion to the countries of the Western Balkans," she stressed.

On the second day of his visit, Joksimovic will meet with the Second President of the National Council of Austria,...