Spanish Ambassador to Serbia Inigo de Palacio Espana expressed the expectation that the EU would grant Serbia the EU membership candidacy status in October and set the date for the commencement of the accession negotiations in December.

We have no prejudices whatsoever, and there is no reason to wait or postpone the beginning of the negotiations if all the requirements from the questionnaire have been fulfilled, Espana said for daily Politika.

Serbia should be congratulated on the huge amount of work it has done, particularly after the extradition of Ratko Mladic, the Spanish ambassador said, adding that Spain would like Serbia to get the candidacy status on Spain's National Day, October 12, and the date for the beginning of the negotiations as early as December this year.

Commenting on the Belgrade-Pristina dialog, the Spanish ambassador pointed out that the Serbian delegation conducted a comprehensive and substantive analysis of practical problems.

We expect that some practical living issues will be resolved already in the next round of talks in Brussels in July, he said, adding that it will make the situation better and improve the lives of people of all nationalities and that it is good for regional stability.

Addressing the issue of a possible partition of Kosovo, the Spanish ambassador pointed out that Madrid believed it should not take any official public stand on these options, as they were not part of the talks Belgrade - Pristina that were underway.

Answering the question whether it is still possible that visa liberalization might be suspended due to the great number of false asylum seekers, Espana responded in the negative.

I believe that both Brussels and Belgrade have invested serious efforts in establishing the visa-free regime.

It will not be terminated just like that.Belgrade put forward a range of proposals to Brussels for forestalling the problem of false asylum seekers before it becomes unsolvable. Such agreements are a reflection of trust between the two sides and the EU has not lost its trust in Serbia, Espana said.