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EU and Serbia ink key pact ahead of vote

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Published 30 April 2008
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In a move seen as a boost to Serbia's pro-European forces ahead of the elections on 11 May, the EU's foreign ministers and the country's pro-EU President Boris Tadic signed a long-delayed pre-EU accession agreement. But Serbia's nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica immediately declared this act illegal, saying the next government would annul it.

The signing of the agreement was made possible after the Dutch and Belgium foreign ministers dropped their opposition on condition that it would not be ratified nor any of its benefits be granted to Serbia until the country showed its full cooperation with the Interational War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) (EurActiv 23/04/08). 

The accord is now in the centre of the electoral campaign in Serbia, where polls show that the pro-European and the nationalist camps are neck-and-neck. 

Serbia's President Boris Tadic said that the agreement sends the clear message that "Serbia's future lies in Europe". He further voiced his country's wish "to become an official candidate by the end of the year".

Tadic, however, made clear that the signing of the SAA, which is notably an economic agreement, should not be mistaken for Serbian recognition of Kosovo, saying his country would never recognise its independence. 

That is the main concern of Serbia's nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose party is currently slightly ahead in the opinion polls. Calling the signing of the SAA "an anti-state and anti-constitutional act," he said that Serbia's parliament would "annul" the pact after the elections next month. 

Positions: 

Serbia's President Boris Tadic said that the agreement sends a clear message: "Serbia's future lies in Europe." He pointed out that "there can no longer be any doubt about our shared commitment to make Serbia an integral part of a stronger and bigger EU". 

The country's pro-European foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, said that the signing of the deal marked "an historic day for Serbia and for the EU". "We believe we are irreversibly on the road to EU membership," he told reporters. 

On the contrary, the President of the Serbian Radical Party, Dragan Todorovic, compared Tadic's signature of the SAA with the signing of a pact with Axis forces in the Second World War. He said the Serbian Radical Party would forward a proposal to remove President Tadic from office. 

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn congratulated Serbia for signing the SAA, calling the agreement "a milestone that marks the gateway to eventual candidacy". 

"This is a very important day for Europe and for Serbia," Rehn said, promising the Serbs that they "will never walk alone on the road to Europe" if they just "stay with it". 

Along the same lines, Slovenia's foreign minister and current acting EU Council President Dimitrij Rupel, stressed that today's decision was "a great opportunity for Serbia, its people and its path towards EU membership" and "an important contribution to the stabilisation of the Western Balkans". 

Looking ahead to the Serbian elections on 11 May, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering also welcomed the agreement, saying "it is important that the EU has given a clear signal that we are committed to a solid European future for Serbia". 

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walther Steinmeier reacted in a similar vein, reassuring Serbia of EU and German support for the challenges ahead. He also expressed his hope that Serbian voters would deliver a clear pro-European message in the upcoming elections on 11 May.

By the same token, he urged Serbia to "demonstrate clearly that it intends to co-operate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)". 

The Dutch and Belgian foreign ministers had also insisted on this being made a main condition of the pact actually coming into force. 

Next steps: 
  • 11 May: Parliamentary elections in Serbia.
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Background: 

The Serbian government was split even before the signature, with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's nationalist party considering that such a move would imply recognition of Kosovo's imminent declaration of independence (EurActiv 07/02/08). 

The current government collapsed over its unbridgeable positions on Kosovo and further rapprochement to the EU, causing President Boris Tadic to call early elections on 11 May (EurActiv 10/03/08). 

Despite Kostunica's call for no agreement to be signed before the elections, Tadic and Serbia's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic – both members of the Democratic Party - decided to go ahead with the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), which offered Serbia closer trade relations and easier travel within the EU. The accord is seen as key step towards EU membership. 

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