French Ambassador: France Wants to Speed Up EU Accession Process for Serbia, Western Balkans

Pierre Cochard (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

French Ambassador to Belgrade Pierre Cochard said on Sept. 23 that France was a country that wanted to speed up the process of Serbia's and the Western Balkans' accession to the European Union, which had been its stance while chairing the EU.

Cochard, who had separate meetings with Serbian Speaker Vladimir Orlic and parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs chairman Borko Stefanovic, said the summit of the European political community in Prague in October, which Serbia had been invited to, was geared toward encouraging political dialogue and cooperation to address matters of mutual interest to bolster the security, stability and prosperity of the European continent.

According to a press release issued by the Serbian parliament, the ambassador said the summit was not a substitute for EU accession, but an invitation to find shared political solutions that involved all European countries. He stressed that France supported the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and that the achievements in the last few months of talks must not be lost sight of.

Stefanovic said he would call a session to broach the issue of aligning Serbian policy with that of the EU, while Orlic noted that the Serbian parliament traditionally had a French friendship caucus.