Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was in Belgrade this week, where he spoke with B92's Ljubica Gojgić. The transcript of the interview is available below
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was in Belgrade this week, where he spoke with B92's Ljubica Gojgić. The transcript of the interview is available below
Journalist: Ljubica GojgićSource:
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B92: Mr. Papandreou, you spoke about your visions for Serbia. But people of Serbia are a little unhappy with the speed of Serbia’s EU integration. Do you think that the whole process could have been done faster?
Papandreou: First of all let me congratulate you and your station on the 10th anniversary of being a free television station and of course your wok as a radio for many, many years in helping support democratic institutions in Serbia. But of course this is something very important for the whole of the Balkans. I believe that there was a slowdown after the recent integration of the ten countries and then of Bulgaria and Romania, and there was a somewhat of a fatigue, but we are now pushing and moving forward.
We have made a proposal for the 2014 date, as a symbolic but it can also be a real date, for countries. Serbia is moving and there is a new momentum in Europe also. I know that there are also some problems, but I believe that the new momentum will allow us to overcome these problems and Serbia can move forward much more quickly.
B92: What do you expect from the meeting on October 25? Could the EU Council of Ministers finally give the green light to the European Commission to start reviewing Serbia’s application for membership?
Papandreou: Well, I know that vast majority of member states want to do this. There is almost a complete majority. We need not majority, but a complete consensus. It’s almost a consensus. Yes, even today (Tuesday) I’ve been talking to the prime minister of the Netherlands in Brussels about the issue of Serbia.
I believe that it is important to inform the Dutch parliament more clearly about all these very, very important steps that Serbia has taken and very important movement that Serbia has done, even concerning the ICTY issue, you have made a great progress. I think this must be recognized.
B92: And finally, are you reviewing your position on the independence of Kosovo, especially after your meeting with Mr. Biden in New York?
Papandreou: We have been working very closely with President Boris Tadić, of course we are also in contact with Hashim Thaci, I am personally in contact with him. We want to help in this dialogue and in doing so we will continue to maintain our position so that we can be of use to help facilitate this dialogue,