At the sitting held on 21 January, the members of the European Integrations Committee were briefed on the answers to the European Commission’s Questionnaire sent for the purpose of preparing an Opinion on Serbia’s EU bid.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Laszlo Varga and attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia in charge of European Integration Bozidar Djelic and Director of the European Integration Office of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Milica Delevic and associates.

Presenting the answers to the Committee members, Deputy Prime Minister Djelic emphasised the enormous amount of work completed in record time, which other countries had taken several months to accomplish, adding that the state administration resources, the public, experts and non-governmental sector had been engaged in the preparation of the answers. Djelic added that the document contains 7,000 pages and that about 70 translators participated in its translation. The Government of the Republic of Serbia had prepared the answers by mid January, and was to finalise the answers next week, which Deputy Prime Minister Djelic and EU Integration Office Director Delevic would then hand in to the European Commission, in Serbian and English, on 31 January 2011. Djelic opined that Serbia is to have a very active first half of the year when it comes to European integration.

EU Integration Office Director Delevic stated that the answers give an accurate and comprehensive view of the situation in Serbia. She added that the preparations for the arrival of the expert commission are already underway, when additional questions are expected. We are adopting the recommendations set out in the Action plan in order to modify the factual situation so that the Republic of Serbia might manage to gain EU member status this year, concluded Delevic.

The Committee members discussed the answers to the Questionnaire with the Government representatives, pointing out the fact that there had not been enough time to consider all the answers in detail. By a majority of votes, the Committee adopted the conclusion stating that it supports the Government of the Republic of Serbia in its efforts to adopt the answers to the Questionnaire as soon as possible and forward them to the European Commission.