Serbian government welcomes, opposition criticizes EU application

Belgrade - Serbian government officials on Tuesday welcomed Belgrade's application for membership in the European Union calling it a positive step towards the EU, while the opposition criticized it as a "marketing move." Vice Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic welcomed the application saying that Serbian citizens "deserved to enter the EU" and that the application for the membership was not a gift from Europe but the result of hard work.

"When Serbia enters the EU it will not be a gift from Europe but something Serbian citizens deserved," Dacic said.

The application "means that Serbia will have to work hard to bring its standards into compliance with the EU's and to accept the European values," Nada Kolundzija from the ruling Democratic Party told reporters in the parliament.

Dragan Todorovic from the opposition Serbian Radical Party however called the application a "marketing move from which the citizens will have no use."

"The fact is that Serbia will enter the EU in 2016 or 2017. What happened today is deceiving the citizens to make the membership in the EU look closer," Todorovic said.

Serbian President Boris Tadic on Tuesday handed the membership application to Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, current holder of the rotating EU presidency.