madam president i am glad to see that serbia has shown strong determination and made substantial progress in the integration process
concluding the stabilisation and association agreement saa and implementing it are the next important steps on this road
the serbian government should be commended for the actions which have been taken to get to this stage
i am sure that the saa will bring concrete economic and trade benefits for the country in areas such as environment energy transport and many others
thirteen countries have so far ratified this agreement
i hope that its ratification by the european parliament will encourage the rest to conclude the process soon
however there are still challenges ahead for both serbia and the eu
serbia needs to commit to full cooperation with the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia in bringing the remaining war criminals to justice
there is also an urgent need for progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and for further reforms in the sectors of justice and public administration
equally the serbian parliament needs to abandon the practices of blank mandates and the arbitrary allocation of parliamentary seats
finally the dialogue between serbia and kosovo will i hope be put on the right track and will guarantee ordinary people better prospects for the future
the european parliament has always been a strong supporter of the integration of the western balkans
serbia is a crucial part of that with this commitment
