Vucic: Serbia could join SEPA in coming weeks

BRUSSELS - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday in Brussels he was confident Serbia had met its commitments when it comes to accession to the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) and that it could be expected to happen in the coming weeks.

"Also, that is very important for our companies and for reducing their expenses, as well as for our people living outside the country, for remittances and for many other things. So, that will greatly facilitate financial operations for Serbian individuals and companies alike," Vucic told reporters after meetings with EU officials.

He said he had discussed Serbia's EU path with EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, head of the European Commission's Directorate-General of Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Gert Jan Koopman and European External Action Service official Marko Makovec.

Vucic said the opening of clusters in the EU accession talks had been the other very important topic of discussions.

"We are hoping to open not one but several clusters this year. We discussed what we must do. That is two media laws and, again, REM (the regulatory authority on electronic media). They requested the law on the electoral roll, which is finished, but we should obtain a final opinion by the ODIHR. We should step up our alignment with the EU on their foreign policy declarations and sometimes vote for some declarations concerning the Russian Federation, which I could not promise them," Vucic said.

He said he believed Serbia was able to make a strong restart to the entire EU accession process.

"We will see whether that will happen or not. We discussed the situation in the region. We all noted the great, enormous significance of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the entire region and agreed that preserving peace and stability is crucial for all of us in the Balkans, and agreed to work on that together," Vucic noted.

He also said the internal situation in Serbia had been discussed as well but declined to say what objections he had made.

"They asked me whether the next government will be a pro-European one - which is what they expect, of course - and what we expect," Vucic added.