First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic said following a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule that the EU does not intend to restrict Serbia’s visa liberalisation.

Dacic stated that he delivered Fule a document on all the activities Serbia undertook to solve the issue of false asylum seekers, announcing that the Ministry of the Interior, in agreement with the EU, will enforce measures to reduce their number.

Control of visa liberalisation and meeting standards and criteria for acquiring candidate status is of ultimate importance for the Ministry of the Interior, as is Serbia’s subsequent full EU membership, Dacic observed.

He announced that on 30 March he will meet with his Hungarian counterpart Sandor Pinter to discuss possibilities for introducing additional control measures on the Serbian-Hungarian border to prevent abuse of the right to seek political asylum in the EU.

Dacic and Fule also contemplated reports by EU expert teams which are monitoring the implementation of the European Commission’s recommendations on the rule of law in Serbia.

Dacic said that his Ministry and other organs tasked with the fight against corruption and organised crime are ready to meet all EU criteria for Serbia to be granted candidate status.

He observed that the Serbian government is commited to creating all conditions in order to use this historic opportunity and aquire candidate status for EU membership by the end of the year.

If we receive the date of commencement of negotiations, it would completely encirce the first phase of our European integration, said Dacic.