ZAGREB, January 18, 2019 – Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić on Friday dismissed the accusations of high treason and favouring Serbia’s interests levelled against her by the political secretary of the opposition MOST party, Nikola Grmoja, saying MOST had done nothing to prevent Serbia from opening EU accession negotiations on Chapter 23 while it was part of the government.
Speaking at an extraordinary press conference, the minister recalled the establishment of a commission following the implementation of transitional benchmarks in chapters 23 and 24 as part of Serbia’s European Union accession negotiations.
“The commission was established in 2016 under a decision of the then caretaker government and the commission was tasked solely with following the implementation of transitional benchmarks in negotiation chapters 23 and 24. The fact is that MOST was in power at that time. Why didn’t the justice minister, the one in charge of monitoring the implementation of Chapter 23, block the closure of that chapter, which he absolutely could have done and had the right to do?” said Pejčinović Burić.
Pejčinović Burić said Croatia “is closely and systematically following” Serbia’s compliance with all commitments and that chapters 23 and 24 were “key for Serbia’s overall progress in the accession process.”
She said it was in Croatia’s interest to push for the rights of Croats in Serbia, resolving the issue of persons gone missing in the 1990s war as well as jurisdiction. “Serbia hasn’t closed even one chapter in more than five years,” she added.
Serbia opened chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) in summer 2016, but they will be closed only at the end of the negotiation process, after the benchmarks have been met. At the time, MOST was a ruling coalition partner of the HDZ party in the Tihomir Orešković cabinet and the minister of justice was MOST’s Ante Šprlje.
Grmoja said in parliament on Wednesday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovič was “working for Serbia’s interests.” “Serbia has opened new chapters in negotiations with the EU and Croatia has done nothing about it, even though Serbia is not meeting the benchmarks undertaken from Chapter 23,” he said, adding that Pejčinović Burić “is breaching a government decision and not convening the commission, while our former camp inmates are bringing suits against Serbia alone, without any help.”
Last December, Serbia opened negotiations on chapters 17 (Economic and Monetary Union) and 18 (Statistics).
The minister also commented on today’s press conference by Hrast MP Hrvoje Zekanović and Croatian member of the European Parliament Ruža Tomašić, who called for an unreserved blockade of Serbia’s EU entry talks until outstanding issues between Croatia and Serbia have been dealt with.
Pejčinović Burić said she was not surprised by Zekanović’s request but was by Tomašić’s. “If she’s that unfamiliar with the accession negotiations process and the functioning of the European Union, then we can really wonder what she has done in Strasbourg and Brussels for more than five years.”
More news on the relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.
