Brnabic: Focus on stepped-up diplomacy and presenting Serbia's accomplishments on EU path

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Tuesday her work focused on stepped-up parliamentary diplomacy and presenting all of Serbia's accomplishments on the EU path to countries that were skeptical about them, such as the Baltic, Nordic and Benelux states.

"I have always believed parliamentary diplomacy needs to be stepped up because there are things only MPs can do. Those things cannot be done by the government, the FM, the minister for integration, or the president of the Republic," Brnabic told a panel at GLOBSEC's BELTALKS: Belgrade Economic Talks forum.

The parliament can make a positive contribution to Serbia's EU accession process, but it must be much more active in parliamentary diplomacy, Brnabic said, adding that, among other matters, this was the focus of her work as parliament speaker.

She said the parliament was working on this through bilateral parliamentary groups of friendships and delegations to the Council of Europe, the OSCE and other international bodies.

"In the past two months, I have been active in attempts to reach out to those EU member states that are much more skeptical or more critical towards Serbia," she said.

Brnabic noted that, during her tenure as PM, she had made a big mistake of usually holding discussions with countries that were already strongly supporting Serbia on the EU path, instead of doing so with the skeptical ones, "such as the Baltic, Nordic and Benelux states."