The European Parliament (EP) has in a draft resolution called on the European Council to grant Serbia the EU candidate status in March.

The EP added that this was being done “under the assumption that the Serbian authorities will by then fulfill the conditions determined at the EU leaders’ meeting in December 2011”. The conditions, defined at the EU summit on December 9 last year, include the implementation of agreements reached so far in the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue and agreement on regional representation of Kosovo.

The EP believes that, bearing in mind EC’s opinion on Serbia’s progress from October 2011, the negotiations about Serbia’s EU accession “should begin as soon as possible, which would show European Union’s commitment to the country’s EU accession perspective”, says the draft to which Tanjug has had access.

The EP stressed that it “believes that the key priorities that the EC pointed to in its opinion have been fulfilled and that reforms continue in Serbia”. The EP Foreign Affairs Committee will discuss the Resolution on Serbia's European Integration on Thursday and its final version is expected to be adopted in March.