"I am really hopeful that Europe will show a great interest in sending a positive signal to Serbia and the western Balkans on their European integration road after Croatia's entry into the European Union," the Italian minister said.
I am sure that on that road Serbia will invest a lot of effort and I believe that closings of any kind are negative also for the European Union, Frattini told a news conference he held with Jeremic in Belgrade.
Italy will continue supporting Serbia's integration with European institutions, Frattini said, adding that Serbia had already passed many important sections on that road.
All of us, including Italy, will work on seeing to it that Serbia be granted the status of EU candidate this year and start accession negotiations, the Italian official said.
Asked whether Italy was willing to support Serbia even if it did not locate and extradite war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic to the Hague-based UN tribunal, Frattini said that a country should be given the status of EU candidate if it succeeded in properly meeting the criteria which had been applied to EU members.
The Italian official believes that the visit of the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, to Belgrade, scheduled for mid-February, will be significant in that regard.
During his official visit to Serbia, Frattini is expected to meet President Boris Tadic and Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic.