Serbia wants to be EU member in 4 or 5 years

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic on Wednesday welcomed the European Union's "historical decision" to open accession talks with Belgrade, adding that the country would like to join the bloc "in four or five years' time." dpa reported. "We have wasted many years and lost much time, isolated and far away from the European family. This is where we belong," Dacic said in a joint press conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. EU member states agreed Tuesday that Serbia and Kosovo had taken significant steps to normalize their relations - a key condition for the start of membership talks with Belgrade and on an association deal with Pristina. "We are not very keen on having (accession) talks that last for 10 years - we would like to make it as soon as possible, in four or five years' time," Dacic said at an earlier meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The EU's ministers for European Affairs recommended that accession talks with Serbia begin by January 2014, while EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule made clear that an earlier date was preferable. Negotiations should start "as soon as possible," Dacic said, calling on EU leaders to "unconditionally" approve the start of talks when they give their formal blessing on Friday. Leaders may insist on having a final say when a date is being set for the start of accession talks. But Dacic expressed fears that this could entail "new conditions" for Serbia. "Serbia will continue the implementation of everything that has been agreed upon in the dialogue with Pristina," the premier pledged. "Europe is a road, is a journey, it is a value system that we need to adopt, a legislative system, a way of life," he said. Serbia does not recognize its largely ethnic-Albanian former breakaway province, which declared independence in 2008, but Dacic had "worked hard to achieve ... agreement in dialogue with Kosovo," Barroso said.