Commissioner hints at speeding up Serbia's EU application

Apr 19, 2011, 13:34 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's top enlargement official hinted on Tuesday at the possibility of speeding up Serbia's membership application to the bloc.

Serbia is hoping to be granted EU candidacy status by the year's end - a move that would pave the way for the start of actual membership talks with Brussels.

But EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule suggested that the two steps may take place simultaneously, as was the case for Iceland last year, provided that Serbia makes the necessary progress in reforms.

'We somehow got used (to the idea) that candidate status and the accession negotiations are two different issues,' Fule told reporters in Brussels.

What matters is the start of accession talks, and 'through such a decision, a country automatically becomes a candidate country,' the commissioner pointed out.

'I strongly believe that the politicians of the Western Balkans should aim high and be ambitious ... instead of dividing these important steps into two, first candidacy and then later opening the accession process,' Fule insisted.

The commission is set to deliver its opinion on whether Serbia is ready for EU candidacy on October 12, but the final decision on whether the country should be granted that status rests upon EU leaders, who could also decide to go further.

Iceland's candidacy request was handled faster than is usual because, unlike Serbia and other Balkan EU-hopefuls, it already complies with large swathes of EU legislation by being already part of its single market and its Schengen border-free zone.

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