Press release
17. May 2004

Achieving Political Consensus for European and Euro-Atlantic Integrations

Upon the initiative of the European Movement in Serbia the Committee for European integration of the Serbian Parliament has formed the parliamentary Working Group comprised of the representatives of all parliamentary parties and one representative of the European Movement in Serbia, on the session held on May 14th, 2004. For the first time in the history of Parliament of Serbia a domestic NGO delegation attended the session of Parliament’s Committee and has been included in the work of the parliamentary body, which will prepare the  official document to be presented to the Serbian legislature leading to the enhanced process of alignment of Serbian legal system with the EU acquis.

The latest opinion pools show that in Serbia and Montenegro exist overwhelming support of the citizens for European integration. On the other side, lack of adequate response of the state structures and political parties regarding European integration is observed, as well as inadequate level of awareness and knowledge about EU. While in both republics over 80% of the citizens (82% in Serbia and 83% in Montenegro) would vote for the EU accession if the referendum is to be launched now, only 22% of Montenegrin population (data from October 2003) and 33% of Serbian (April 2004) is content with administration performance.

The current political situation in the State Union Serbia and Montenegro points to a series of serious barriers in the European integration process of Serbia and Montenegro. First of all, there is an absence of political consensus and lack of cooperation between the State Union and its member states. A decisive step could be a joint statement of all political parties in the parliaments, making the Euro Atlantic integration a primary goal, since such statement secures continuity regardless of changes in the governing structures. This would be a proof of the existence of the clear vision and strategy in Serbia and Montenegro regarding the relations with EU and thus would result in upgrading the image of Serbia and Montenegro and strengthening its position towards European Union.

The strategic importance of political consensus for European and Euro Atlantic integrations is contained in the fact that political consensus would provide greater stability to the State Union, continuation of the reform process, improvement of the economic standards of the citizens and enhancement of capacities for peaceful conflict resolution including the problem of Kosovo and Metohija. Without creating a broad national consensus the accession process of Serbia and Montenegro to the EU will be hindered by the divergent attitudes of political parties regarding the issues of Euro Atlantic integration process. Consequently this would result in prolonging the accession of Serbia and Montenegro to Euro Atlantic structures.

Therefore upon the initiative of the European Movement in Serbia the Committee for European integration of the Serbian Parliament has formed the parliamentary Working Group comprised of the representatives of all parliamentary parties and one representative of the European Movement in Serbia.

Having in mind the fact that national consensus regarding European integrations already exists among the citizens, European Movement in Serbia invites all political actors in Serbia and Montenegro to accede to the consensus formalization in the Parliament thus confirming that the strategic objective of Serbia and Montenegro is EU membership.