Brnabic meets with Koopman in Brussels

BRUSSELS - Serbia's objective is to open Cluster 3 in its EU accession talks by end-July, Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Wednesday in Brussels after meeting with the head of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Gert Jan Koopman.

Speaking to reporters, Brnabic said Koopman would visit Belgrade on June 12 and that they would meet again.

"That is a good dynamics of mutual visits and discussions, because that is the best way of monitoring the progress of our reform activities, which should ultimately lead to us opening Cluster 3. We hope, and it is our desire and ambition, to do so by end-July - if not then, then in September or October," Brnabic said.

She expressed gratitude to Koopman for his hard work and commitment to the EU accession process.

"He has a great deal of understanding for all the things that are going on in Serbia at this time, for all personal efforts by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic aimed at carrying out reforms, at keeping this going at a satisfactory pace and at Serbia getting a positive signal from the EU again, which will give us additional motivation to work on opening the remaining clusters. The next one we will be working on is definitely Cluster 2," she said.