The Serbian delegation, led by the Director of the European Integration Office Milica Delevic and Secretary of State in Justice Ministry Slobodan Homen, will begin preparations on Monday for the start of negotiations with the European Union in Brussels.

This is the first and very important step for Serbia towards European integration after it was granted candidate status on March 2, Homen told Tanjug on Saturday.

Homen is also president of the subgroup for the judiciary and fundamental rights of the group of experts of the coordinating body for EU accession.

Ahead of us is a whole range of administrative and tehnical activities necessary to reach our goal as soon as possible, and that is membership in the EU, which will brings to the citizens a more favorable economic situation, Homen said.

Serbian Government Office for European Integration has announced that a Serbian delegation will participate in the meeting of Montenegrin negotiating team with the European Commission in order to better prepare for negotiations on Serbia's integration in the EU.

On March 26-30, the EC will start a detailed analytical review, the so-called initial screening, of European legislation in chapters encompassing regulations concerning judiciary and fundamental rights, as well as justice, freedom and security.

According to the statement, this will be the first time for the Serbian delegation to attend such meetings in order to be better prepared for Serbia's EU accession talks, above all by strengthening the administration's capacities for this important step towards the EU membership.

Screening is a procedure which encompasses review of legislation in certain area, after which analysis is carried out on the differences between the regulations of the candidate country and EU legal practices, so as to enter negotiations on harmonization.

The preparations in which the issues that will be be negotiated with the EU will be determined, will involve representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in addition to representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the Office for European Integration.

There are a total 35 of chapters, and the new approach of the EC, which applies to the talks that will be held with candidate countries, implies that the process should start precisely with Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security).

Chapters 23 and 24 relate to the functioning of rule of law and the protection of human and minority rights, legal and illegal migrations, asylum, cooperation in civil, trade and criminal matters, and cooperation of judicial , police and customs authorities in the fight against organized crime.

These chapters also include the issues of fighting drug trafficking and human trafficking, money laundering, economic and hi-tech crime, terrorism, European arrest warrants, extradition process, confiscation of property gained through crime, formation of joint investigative teams, as well as cooperation with EUROPOL and with EUROJUST.