Sulyok: Hungary to do everything to ensure Serbia's soonest possible EU accession

BELGRADE - Hungary will do everything it can to ensure a soonest possible EU accession of Serbia because it believes no long-term stability can be achieved without EU integration in the Western Balkans, Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok said in Belgrade on Monday.

"After some twenty years, it is time to finally fulfil the promise made by the EU to the Western Balkans," Sulyok said at a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Hungary can have no energy stability without Serbia, and vice versa, he said, noting that the two countries were interdependent.

He added that Serbia was a transit partner for Hungary that enabled it to increase its natural gas supplies.

"We also have excellent cooperation regarding building a (high-speed) rail line between Belgrade and Budapest. I would like to thank you for the fact that you in Serbia will complete the works on your section as early as by next year, and I hope that we in Hungary, too, will ensure railway transport can begin on the rail line to Budapest in the next few years," Sulyok said.

He said Hungary would do everything in its power to speed up border crossing procedures by opening new crossings on the border with Serbia.

Thanking Vucic for a cordial welcome in Belgrade, Sulyok said the visit to the Serbian capital was his third presidential trip abroad after visits to Vienna and the Vatican.

Hungary views Serbia not only as its strategic partner but also as a sincere friend, and that sentiment is something that is of great value today, Sulyok said.

He also thanked Vucic and the Serbs for the stable position of Serbia's ethnic Hungarians.