It was during the Danish presidency over the EU that Serbia became an EU candidate-state and Denmark will continue supporting Serbia on its EU course, Danish Ambassador to Serbia Mette Kjuel Nielsen told our radio. More from Sandra Pekić.
Nielsen believes there is a chance of Serbia’s starting accession talks with the EU in 2012, but only if the new government works on the fulfillment of the conditons set before them. However, the talks could begin by the end of the year if there is mutual will - both in the EU and in Belgrade, she said.
Nielsen said that, from the aspect of the Danish government, the past six months of EU presidency had been very exciting. Denmark had set the goals well, but, as always, new circumstances determined the priorities. She said that, eventually, she was satisfied with the way Denmark had run the EU during the time of the crisis. As for the Danish Embassy in Serbia, it was unable to significantly influence the process of Serbia’s EU integrations as, according to the Lisbon Agremeent, such a thing falls within the competence of the European Commission’s Delegation in Belgrade. Nielsen said she had very good cooperation with the head of the European Commission’s Delegation in Belgrade, Vincent Degert. She added Denmark would continue supporting Serbia on its EU course.
At the end of this month, Denmark winds up its six-month presidency over the EU, which has been its seventh EU presidency ever since it joined the EU (then the European Community) in 1973. The main challenge of the Danish presidency was to curb the euro zone crisis although the euro is not Denmark’s national currency. Other priorities included talks on the new EU budget, further development of the unified market, investments in renewable energy sources, as well as the improvement of the EU border control and better migration management. The attributes such as responsible, dynamic, green or safe Europe have been marked as the priority ones. In the second half of 2012, the EU will be presided by Cyprus.