European Council (EC) President Herman Van Rompuy Friday expressed his satisfaction about the progress made in the last round of the dialog between Belgrade and Pristina, but also pointed to the importance of implementing the agreements reached in the talks so far.

“While acknowledging the latest results in the dialog between Belgrade and Pristina, I encouraged President Tadic to take further steps to assure EU Member States that Serbia is seriously engaged in the dialog with Kosovo and that it is implementing in good faith the agreements reached so far,” Rompuy said in a press statement after meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic in Brussels on Friday.

“Regional cooperation and good neighborly relations are essential parts of the enlargement process,” the EU Council president said, adding that Brussels will “judge each country on its own merits, based on fair and rigorous conditionality.”

He reaffirmed “the EU's commitment to the European perspective of the Weestern Balkans with the aim to reinforce peace, democracy and stability in Europe.”

Van Rompuy welcomed “President Tadic's personal engagement and determination in striving to meet the economic and political criteria for membership of the European Union.”

He confirmed that the European Commission would at its meeting on December 9 consider the European Commission's Opinion on Serbia's application for EU membership.