On Sept. 14 President Boris Tadic said that there is "an exceptionally favorable climate" in the EU for sending Serbia's candidacy application to the European Commission.

"In Tallinn, I said that our goal was to obtain the status of a candidate as soon as possible followed by a date for negotiations," Tadic told reporters in Belgrade at a reception prior to the departure of 50 Serbian students to Austria.

Tadic also said that there "is a certain technical time" for achieving these goals, and that Serbia needs to meet its commitments and carry out numerous reforms.

"As of lately, the adoption of laws has come to a kind of standstill, because of Parliament or the Cabinet, this needs to be checked, but everyone needs to carry their share of the responsibility," Tadic said.

Tadic stressed that it is extremely important for Serbia to advance its EU membership bid as soon as possible "so that we can get a questionnaire from the European Commission as soon as possible, which I believe we will be able to successfully answer" enabling Serbia to become a candidate for EU membership, and the start of negotiations.