President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso visited Serbia on June 29, where he met with Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has thanked European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso for the support for Serbia on its path towards the EU. The Serbian president said that the aid the European Union has given Serbia after the catastrophic floods in May showed that Serbia can count on a lot bigger European family. Nikolic said he and Barroso discussed a donors' conference, to be organized by the the EU in cooperation with the United Nations, where solidarity between the countries of the world and Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia will be put to work.

Speaking about political issues, Nikolic said that Western Balkans’ future is very uncertain without Serbia in the EU.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic thanked Barroso for the assistance and support that the EU has provided to Serbia after the catastrophic floods that hit our country. He reiterated that full membership of Serbia in the EU is the priority of this government, and expressed his belief that our country will meet all requirements for accession by 2018, and after that all the decisions will be up to EU member states.

The Prime Minister stressed that, although there are many tasks ahead of Serbia and although economic reforms will not bring immediate prosperity, our country must implement radical changes if it wants to become part of the Union.

The President of the European Commission stated that the EU will continue to strongly support Serbia's European path so that our country could become a full EU member as soon as possible. Barroso said that Serbia has made big progress towards European integration and that the EU is building a stronger partnership with it, noting that negotiations for accession are running very well.

He pointed out that the screening is now open for 18 out of the 35 chapters, and welcomed the efforts made by the government of Serbia aimed at strengthening the rule of law, the fight against corruption and crime, respect for human rights and reform of the public administration. Referring to dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, he said that both sides have shown vision and courage, which has been materialised through a number of agreements.