At the invitation of the president of the Pirot Municipality, Vladan Vasic, and deputies from the Pirot constituency, the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, visited the town of Pirot. Mr Markovic visited the Municipal Service Centre, set up to provide a higher level of service to the municipality’s residents.

Mr Markovic then went on to attend a ceremony to mark the end of construction at the Kej Sports Hall. Seventy percent of the building funds were provided by the European Union, while the remaining 30% was collected by the municipal government. Opening the sports hall, Markovic reiterated that no serious political party in Serbia opposed the European Union, although some were euro-sceptical. ‘Pirot, or for that matter any other Serbian city, will not enter the EU when Belgrade meets the Union’s standards. Rather, it is the other way round – Belgrade will join when Pirot, Krusevac, Valjevo, or some other town, meet the EU’s standards for economic development and other areas. Only when we have achieved this together will we be part of Europe’, Markovic concluded.