Hungary continues to regard supporting Serbia’s EU accession aspirations as a particular foreign policy objective, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told the Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday by telephone.

The Minister said during his official visit to Belgrade he was received by head of state Aleksandar Vucic, and had talks with Minister of Energy Aleksandar Antic and Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic.

He stressed Hungary continues to regard supporting Serbia’s EU accession aspirations as a particular foreign policy objective as Hungary has a vested political and economic interest in Serbia becoming a member of the European Union within the shortest possible time.

He took the view that the target date of 2025 set by the European Commission is very remote; Serbia should join the EU much earlier. Therefore Hungary will suggest to Austria currently holding the EU Presidency that in December – when this issue is due to be placed on the agenda – a decision should be adopted which would require all 21 negotiating chapters not yet opened so far to be opened, thereby accelerating the accession process, he explained.

Mr Szijjártó also said that both Hungary and Serbia look upon one another’s national communities as resources. “Serbia’s minority policy could serve as a model for other neighbouring countries aspiring to gain accession to the European Union as well”, he said.

He highlighted that Hungary will continue its economic development programme in Vojvodina. So far they have supported the applications of 6,488 Hungarian small businesses in Vojvodina and 23 large projects, on which the Hungarian budget has spent some HUF 22 billion in total, he said.

The Foreign Minister also said that at the negotiations they reviewed the issue of long waiting times frequently experienced at the Hungarian-Serbian border. Thanks to the measures adopted by the two interior ministers, even at the busiest Hungarian-Serbian border crossing points waiting times have decreased significantly, and these will obviously decrease even further once new crossing points have been opened, he pointed out. He added that from among these the border crossing points at Kübekháza and Rábé will be next, and the necessary works will be completed by the end of next year.

(MTI)