Brnabic: I have good news about Serbia-EU cooperation

BRUSSELS - Speaking to reporters before the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels, Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said she had good news about Serbia-EU cooperation.

Asked by Tanjug what she expected from the summit, Brnabic said she expected "good results and good discussions" about the EU's new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

She said she had had good meetings with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban and EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi.

"It is good we have the EU-Western Balkans summit because, besides the European Political Community, it is a new format as part of which we from the Western Balkans can always speak with EU leaders openly, sincerely and fully transparently. So it is a good thing, dialogue is always a good thing," Brnabic said.

She said the Growth Plan was an "opportunity for us from the Western Balkans to obtain additional funds totalling as much as 6 bln euros - 4 bln in loans and 2 bln in grants."

As always, this will be conditional upon some reforms, she said.

"We do not shun reforms, we believe they are in the interest of our citizens and our economy. We are continuing to address reforms and remain committed to rule of law," she said.

Asked about her discussions with Orban and Varhelyi, she said she had thanked Orban for all of Hungary's support to Serbia on the EU path and that the meeting with Varhelyi had addressed "his next visit to Serbia and what we need to do by end-January."

Brnabic noted that Serbia had received a favourable Council of Europe report on its efforts in the fight against corruption and had fulfilled 10 out of 13 recommendations issued by the CoE's anti-corruption watchdog GRECO.

"We are still working on three of them," she said.

She said Serbia had fully harmonised with the European Commission all outstanding issues regarding a national strategy on fighting corruption.

She also said the December 10 completion of a gas interconnector with Bulgaria was "excellent news for our energy diversification."