Fuele Hopes to Unfreeze SAA With Serbia

“I hope very much that in six months time when EU members would come back to the issue of ratification of the SAA that we will be in a position, on (the back of) a positive report from the ICTY (International War Crimes Tribunal) to go ahead and unfreeze the ratification,” Fuele said, at a hearing at the European Parliament where he was answering MEPs' questions in order to secure his nomination for the enlargement post.

Fuele stressed that during his mandate he would focus on helping countries in the region achieve their European integration aspirations and make sure none are left behind.

“We all recognise that the Western Balkans has a huge historical and political baggage, therefore we need to help them as much as we can to proceed with reforms to make it possible that they implement those reforms,” Fuele said.

 The most important step in recent EU-Western Balkans relations was the decision to liberalise the visa regime for nationals from Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. Coming from the Czech Republic, the commissioner designate said he knows best “the importance of the possibility to travel freely in Western Europe”.

He stated that he hopes to be in position by mid 2010 to recommend the lifting of the visa regime for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while he promised the start a “structured dialogue” on visa issues with Kosovo.