Despite recent improvements in the negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo (see background), decisions have still not been implemented, leaving Belgrade just about one week to reach a resolution for the conflict that is holding it back from going candidate status.
"Anything is possible, but the mood is not good," an EU source close to the discussions told Euractiv.
The EU Commission has recommended granting Serbia candidate status, which in theory could happen at the 8-9 December leadership summit in Brussels. However, several member states would like Belgrade to give a clear signal that it would normalise its relations with its former province of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence in February 2008.
Hopes were hanging on the eighth round of the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština, which ended late last night (30 November) in Brussels. European Council officials announced that talks made "good progress" on "joint management" of border crossings - a tendentious issue. Talks are expected to continue.
"Nobody expects of course that Serbs would come out of the General Affairs Council meeting and say they recognised Kosovo. But I think there is a question of showing and demonstrating visibly that there is political will in Serbia to honour commitments, to implement commitments and also to normalise relations with Kosovo," a senior EU diplomat told Euractiv.
Belgrade team chief Borislav Stefanović said his delegation will do everything it can to reach an agreement with Priština, according to EurActiv partner agency Beta.
“We have a long day ahead of us, but we will do everything we can to overcome the huge differences that we have,” he said ahead of the beginning of the new round of talks.
Serbs are still far from answering the concerns on what is possible in the dialogue with Kosovo.
"I don’t' think that anybody in the EU has any appetite for admitting a country which has very big, grave problems with its neighbour. I think we have had a number of lessons in this respect and I don't think this is going to happen," the EU diplomat added.
The diplomat appeared to reject the view that only Germany was blocking Serbia's bid. "We all have a responsibility for making enlargement credible," he said.
Lacking implementation
Serbia's pro-European president Boris Tadić called on the barricades at the border between Serbia andKosovo to be removed last month (see background), but this has not yet implemented. "It is too little, too late," another EU source said. "Things are moving in the right direction, but despite talks, nothing has been implemented."
Tadić hinted at changes in the Serbian policy on Kosovo during a recent lecture at the London Institute for Strategic Studies. He called for "an essential, sustainable and final solution" that would be met through talks, given there is a desire to find common ground.
He also said that he wanted Kosovo to participate in the regional forums. However, this has not yet been implemented either, as Serbia in practice continues to refuse to participate in any regional meetings to which Kosovo is invited because it does not recognize the region's international status. Serbia also does not want Kosovo representatives to be included in such meetings.
Although intentions are there, the political conditions for them have yet to be created and there is little hope this will happen until the next election. Tadić does not have the support of all parties in the ruling coalition to drive change in the frozen Kosovo conflict.
If Tadić came out in the election with a new platform, he would certainly be met with harsh criticism from the opposition. Hence one can expect him to maintain a restrained stance until the election, at least as far as the domestic audience is concerned, avoiding any major changes toward Kosovo," Beta reported.
The Serbian Progressive Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia, both part of the conservative opposition, have a strong influence on the authorities in the north of Kosovo, which puts more strain on Tadić’s efforts to implement changes requested by the EU.
It is not only the disputed north of Kosovo that is causing problems for Tadić. Not implementing the agreements that have been reached so far, such as providing the Kosovo authorities with copies of birth certificates, show that Belgrade is not itself entirely prepared to advance in negotiations, according to Beta.
The Serbs are aware of the fact that lack of implementation will undermine Serbia's EU candidate status, one official said. “What they do with this knowledge, I don't know. They still have a few days left," he said.
