EU Candidate Membership of Serbia - a Chance for Development of Zrenjanin

After yesterday's decision of the heads of 27 EU member countries to approve the candidate membership status to Serbia, today the heads of the local government of Zrenjanin  agreed in their estimation that this is also a chance for Zrenjanin  City to develop further.
 
The Mayor of Zrenjanin, dr Mileta Mihajlov, in his statement to media emphasised that it was one of the most important steps on  the way to EU membership status and that it is a "stage with no return".
- I haveto point out that this status is achieved in one of the hardest and the most demanding periods of modern Serbian history. This, for sure, upgrade our rating with investors because now   we are not marked any more as a turbulent and unstable region. Now   new opportunities are opening to us with about 300 million Euro of various funds available which can be accessed by local, provincial and republic government but also non-governmental organisation and other entities. New investments will refer to agriculture, infrastructure energy and there are human resoruces capable of achieving this common goal – said the Mayor Mihajlov.
 
Welcoming the news from Brussels and congratulating the citizen of Zrenjanin,  Vojvodina and Serbia for the EU candidate membership status of Serbia, the President of Zrenjanin City Assembly, Aleksandar Marton, reminded that the late Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić routed that path back in 2000 and although  it was expected much earlier, now Serbia definitely  enters  into the  family of  the European nations.
- Candidate status automatically means that  we have  become , not full, but still members of EU, that EU flag is , now, actually, the flag Of Serbia too, and  all the values of Serbia are now to be integrated into EU, to build, jointly  with other countries, a better  and brighter future of  a peaceful and perspective Europe. For Zrenjanin it  is also a great piece of news and it is up  to us how we are going to  use this opportunity and  available  European funds, and the Government of Republic of Serbia is  expected to start negotiations on EU accession as soon as possible, and, similarly, as Croatia, after 5-6 years become a full member of the European Union – said Aleksandar Marton.
 
After the candidate  membership status approval  it is expected to start a process of accession preparation which  would be the next step of Euro integrations.