BELGRADE – Head of Serbia’s negotiating team in EU accession talks Tanja Miščević said Monday that the negotiating chapter on public procurement could be opened together with Chapters 23 and 24 in June, adding that Belgrade expected a lot from Croatia on its road to the EU.
“What we are trying to do and where we have things almost finalized is open the chapter relating to procurement on that occasion. There can be no successful fight against corruption, a matter dealt with by Chapter 23, without monitoring public procurement,” Miščević told Belgrade-based TV Pink, observing that she could not see “any political or technical reason to fail here.”
Asked whether the Croats would lobby to frustrate Serbia’s efforts to open the chapters, Miščević said she did not see any reasons or indications pointing to something like that, adding that talks on opening Chapters 23 and 24 by the end of the Dutch presidency should resume in Brussels before the end of the week.
Miščević stressed that Serbia “expects a lot” from Croatia when it came to transfer of knowledge, experience and understanding of the entire EU negotiations process.