Dačić said his country was considering applying for EU membership during the Czech EU Presidency, but Rehn clearly advised Belgrade to hold its horses.
With the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) not yet having entered into force, the European Commission considers membership application as premature, the commissioner explained.
Serbia ratified the agreement last September (EurActiv 09/09/08), but on the EU side, the same process is on hold, as the Netherlands wants the country to "fully cooperate" with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In other words, The Hague first wants war criminal Ratko Mladic to be captured and brought to justice.
In a significant shift of vocabulary, Rehn even refrained from referring to the EU's 'enlargement policy', instead preferring the expression "EU policy for stabilisation and societal progress in the Western Balkans". He said this is because the political context in the EU is not favourable to enlargement at present.
"In the field of enlargement, we are working in a very challenging political context," Rehn explained. "We have financial and economic crises on our shoulders everywhere in Europe, we are approaching European elections, and we will have the [second] Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the autumn. These are all formidable challenges […] At the same time, we will have to continue our work for the stabilisation and societal progress in the Western Balkans. In fact, enlargement policy could as well be called EU policy for stabilisation and societal progress in the Western Balkans," Rehn said.
Visa free regime may be offered soon
However, Rehn confirmed that the Commission may propose by the end of the year that Serbia be added to the bloc's 'white list' of countries whose citizens can travel visa-free within the Schengen space if the country continues its progress on meeting EU requirements.
Dačić informed the Commission of the progress achieved in this field. 290,000 biometric Serbian passports have already been issued, and Belgrade airport is already equipped with biometric data processors, he said.
Responding to a question from the press, Rehn explained that the decision to lift the visas would only come after all EU countries had agreed to do so. Questions have been raised as to whether the decision to lift visas was timely, with some EU countries currently even challenging freedom of movement between their own citizens.
