Mirel: Serbia is facing difficult decisions

As the EC representative in charge of Western Balkans in the two-day talks between the delegations of the Serbian parliament and European Parliament (EP), Mirel said that the EC has high hopes when it comes to Serbia and expressed the belief that the country can fulfil the conditions for getting the date of accession talks. Serbia needs to make difficult decisions concerning Kosovo, Mirel said and underscored that the EC is impressed by the efforts which the government invested so far with a view to finding a solution to the problem, as well as the results of the fight against corruption and organised crime and the work on regional reconciliation. The talks in the EP began on Monday afternoon and in addition to Serbia's parliamentary delegation headed by Chairwoman of the Serbian parliament European Integration Committee Milica Delevic, Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic and head of the Serbian Office for European Integration Milan Pajevic also arrived in Brussels. At the proposition of the EP Rapporteur Jelko Kacin, the meeting opened by a minute of silence to mark the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic. Kacin recalled the anniversary of the assassination and added that Djindjic's death came as a heavy loss for entire Europe. Selakovic informed European MPs about the efforts which his ministry is investing in putting right the wrongs done during the mandate of the previous government and finalising the judiciary reform. He announced that the new draft strategies of the judiciary reform and fight against corruption for the period of the next five years would be filed to the parliament by the end of the month already. Ahead of the beginning of the meeting, Delevic told Tanjug that such meetings are an important chance for EP MPs to learn more about the efforts Serbia is investing in reforms and achievement of European standards in many areas, from the judiciary to agriculture. This is a chance to see how far we got and what challenges lie ahead, Delevic said. The talks in the EP will continue on Tuesday after which the European delegation should adopt the conclusions about Serbia's progress on its EU path.