Brnabic: Serbia deserves to open Cluster 3, already working on other clusters

BRUSSELS - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Wednesday in Brussels Serbia deserved to open Cluster 3 in its EU accession talks and noted that Belgrade would continue to fight for that objective and was already working on opening other clusters.

"We will keep fighting, but I think it would be extremely unfair not to open Cluster 3 this year," Brnabic told reporters in response to a question whether the issue was a matter of the EU's and its member states' credibility.

"In case it is not opened, we will continue discussions also during the Polish (EU) presidency to ensure it is opened as soon as possible, and we are already thinking about, and working on, opening other clusters - we are preparing and not giving up," Brnabic added.

She said the fact Germany was more open to discussing and supporting opening Cluster 3 might be a positive thing.

"That diplomatic struggle continues," Brnabic said.

She noted that, earlier in the day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic - who is on a working visit to Zurich - had undertaken to speak with the leaders of some European countries that were more skeptical about opening Cluster 3.

Meanwhile, ambassadors of EU member states have again failed to reach an agreement on opening the cluster in the accession talks with Serbia.

After a COREPER II meeting chaired by Hungary on Wednesday, a Tanjug source in Brussels said discussions on the matter would be continued.

The Baltic states as well as Croatia, the Netherlands and Germany oppose opening the cluster with Serbia, while Hungary - which holds the Council of the EU presidency - is one of the countries that support the move.