European Parliament supports Serbia's EU aspirations: Serbian PM

Serbia enjoys strong support from the European Parliament to join the European Union (EU), Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

Vucic made the remarks after meeting with European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Schulz arrived Tuesday for a two-day official visit to Serbia, where he also met with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic and members of the opposition parties.

At a press conference after the meeting, Vucic said that he talked with Schulz about the political stability in the region, the European integration and economic reforms that Serbia is undertaking to achieve financial stability.

"Once again I expressed Serbia's attitude that we do not intend to achieve great and positive results with easy solutions and simple measures, and that is why we were ready to introduce painful and tough measures," Vucic said, explaining that results are already visible.

He added that Serbia will have serious and responsible representatives at the European Parliament when it joins the EU, and expressed the hope that this will take place as soon as possible.

For his part, Schulz said that Serbia is not forgotten in Brussels and that it is possible that preparations for Serbia to join the EU could soon be underway.

"If all goes well, I can say that the first chapters could be opened by the end of the year," Schulz said, adding that there are several conditions for that to happen, one of which is to reach an agreement with the Kosovo government, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008.

He stressed that stability and economic growth are possible only by cooperating with other countries in the region, highlighting the importance of the interconnection of industry and infrastructure both for the region and the whole EU. Endi