European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia David McAllister has said that the EU should become "more visible and vocal in the Western Balkans."

 McAllister is seeThe German MEP from the CDU party, who is currently visiting Belgrade where he late on Wednesday met with PM-designate Aleksandar Vucic, further stressed that the task of Serbia was to align its security and foreign policy with that of the EU "also when it comes to Russia." "Serbia has traditionally strong economic, social and cultural ties with Russia. However, Russia unilaterally changes European borders in order to try to expand its influence and expand its control over parts of territories of neighboring countries. This is one of the reasons, why Serbia needs to make strong efforts in aligning its foreign and security policy to that of the EU, including the policy on Russia," McAllister told the website "European Western Balkans."

Ahead of a conference in Belgrade, dubbed, "The European Union’s Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy and the Western Balkans," he added that he "course recognizes Serbia’s very good and fruitful cooperation with NATO and encourages Serbia to deepen that relation."

Asked "why Germany changed its approach towards Serbia and allowed the start of negotiations without Serbia complying with all preconditions" - namely, Berlin's "11 conditions for the start of negotiations between Serbia and the EU," he replied:

"Germany did not change its position on Serbia. On the contrary, Germany has been very consistent in its policy. Chancellor Merkel is in a close exchange and open dialogue with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and, among other means of support, has initiated the Berlin process in 2014. As the German Bundestag is concerned, the relevant document is the 2013 Bundestag resolution on Serbia. It puts a special emphasis on the normalization process between Kosovo and Serbia and will continue to shape Germany’s approach with regard to Serbia’s accession negotiations."

Asked what "a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo" means, McAllister said that "the dialogue with Kosovo is closely linked with the EU accession process of Serbia."

"The engagement in normalizing relations with Kosovo is most welcome and some progress has been made in this respect. The First Agreement on the Principles of Normalization of Relations of April 2013 was a milestone which Serbia as well as Kosovo can still be proud of. However, this agreement was concluded three years ago and is yet far from being implemented. In substance, what is requested from Serbia is a continued engagement towards a visible and sustainable improvement in relations with Kosovo. This process shall ensure that both can continue on their respective European paths, while avoiding that either can block the other in these efforts."

When it comes to preventing countries from blocking each other's EU accession over bilateral disputes, McAllister said that "(EU) enlargement is about bringing peace, stability and prosperity to the Western Balkans region," while "a stable Serbia will be beneficial for the entire region."

"Serbia has to align to the acquis communautaire, the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the body of European Union law. Bilateral issues that do not belong to this body should be resolved bilaterally," he said.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2016&mm=07&dd=14&nav_id=98613