BELGRADE -- The discrepancy between the foreign policies of Serbia and the EU will not slow down the EU integration process and opening of the first chapters.

This is according to Tanja Miščević, head of Serbia's negotiating team in the EU accession talks.

"At this stage of our preparation for the opening of negotiating chapters, it is clear that the condition is to implement everything that has been agreed by the Brussels agreement," Miščević told the Belgrade daily Danas.

She pointed out that the condition for the talks opening cannot be something that has to be achieved over time, such as harmonization with the EU foreign policy.

"Another question is whether this burdens our negotiations," said Miščević, adding that about 66 percent of positions in the domain of ??foreign policy have been harmonized, excluding the decision on imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

"We discussed this issue during the bilateral screening for Chapter 31 and explained the reasons for this discrepancy," said Miščević.

"We reiterated that Serbia understands the obligations and that it will endeavor to do progressively harmonize its positions with the EU foreign policy by the time it joins the union," Miščević said.

She pointed out that at this stage of preparation for the opening of the first chapters of the negotiations, the focus is on the implementation of everything that has been agreed by the Brussels agreement on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština.