Today, at the National Assembly House, the delegation of the British Group at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, headed by Roger Berry, had separate meetings with the members of the Serbia-United Kingdom Friendship Group at the National Assembly and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In the meeting with the members of the Serbia-United Kingdom Friendship Group they exchanged opinions on the current situation in Serbia and the need to further strengthen the cooperation of the two parliaments. Serbia highly supports Eurointegration, but the issue of public support for Serbia’s European path should not be conditioned by the acknowledgement of Kosovo’s independence, Vesna Marjanovic said. Milos Aligrudic also expressed a view that Serbia should not be expected to recognise the independence of Kosovo as a pre-condition for its accession to the European Union. The officials agreed in the estimate that it is necessary to further strengthen the relationship between the two parliaments, particularly through friendship groups, but also through direct cooperation of working bodies and parliamentarians themselves. At the end of the meeting, the British parliamentary delegation head Roger Berry said that the delegation will inform the United Kingdom Parliament of the views stated.

The meeting included the members of the Serbia-United Kingdom Friendship Group, deputies Vesna Marjanovic, Milos Aligrudic, Smiljana Milisavljevic, Radoslav Milovanovic, Tamas Tot and Jelena Travar-Miljevic.

In the meeting with the Foreign Affairs Committee members, headed by the Committee Chairman, Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic, the British Parliamentarians were most interested in the relations between Serbia and the ex-Yugoslav Republics. Chairman Micunovic said that they have established cooperation, particularly in economic relations, but that certain problems from the previous period have impeded the process. The acknowledgement of Kosovo’s independence by some of the countries cooled the relations, but, according to him, the situation in the region is stable. Micunovic deemed that Serbia’s speedier progress towards European integration might help overcome the problem, aiding not only political, economic and cultural development, but a revival of the whole Balkan area as well. The British counterparts agreed that the Balkan countries can be much more successful together that individually.

Foreign Affairs Committee members Milos Aligrudic, Zeljko Ivanji, Natasa Vuckovic, Milos Jevtic, Nikola Lazic and Balint Pasztor participated in the talk with the British Parliamentarians.