Serbia shown EU route after Milosevic death

EU foreign ministers reaffirmed Serbia’s EU destiny at the weekend after news came that the former Serb leader and indicted war criminal Slobodan Milosevic had died in custody.

News of Milosevic’s death came as EU foreign ministers were meeting in Salzburg, Austria, at the weekend to assess the Western Balkan’s EU integration process. 

Javier Solana, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, said Milosevic’s death, although “a sad event”, should not overshadow “the fact that many men and women suffered from the consequences of his policies”. He then urged the Serbian people to “come to terms with the legacy of Milosevic” and move “towards the family of European nations where they belong”. 

However, EU foreign ministers reminded Belgrade that “a negotiated settlement of the status of Kosovo, mutually acceptable to the parties concerned” was crucial with respect to Serbia’s EU ambitions. They added that they also expected Serbia’s “full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia”. Serbia was given until April 2006 to hand over former military leader Ratko Mladic to The Hague.

The ministers reiterated that EU membership was the Western Balkan’s “ultimate goal”. But at the insistence of countries such as France, they were also keen to add that the bloc’s “absorption capacity” had to be taken into account before more countries join in. They recalled that a debate on the enlargement strategy was due in 2006 after ‘no’ votes in France and the Netherlands highlighted voters concerns about the further EU eastwards expansion of 2004.

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