Serbia offered ‘possible’ EU candidate status in 2009

Granting Serbia official EU candidate status as early as 2009 seems “possible” if the country continues to deliver “a positive track record,” Commission President José Manuel Barroso told Serbian leaders in Brussels yesterday (3 September).

“If everything goes according to plan and all the conditions are met, it will be possible to give candidate status to Serbia in 2009,” Barroso said after a meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Foreign Minister Vuc Jeremic. However, Barroso made clear that “this is not a commitment,” saying “it depends on Serbia [and] it depends on the conditions on the European Union side”. 

The most important condition to be fulfilled is Serbia’s full cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Barroso stressed. In this regard, the arrest of war crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic was an “historic moment” and a “milestone” on the road to EU membership, Barroso declared. He suggested rewarding Serbia by implementing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) signed by both sides in April (EURACTIV 30/04/08). 

The SAA, which offers Serbia closer trade relations and easier travel within the EU, is seen as key step towards accession and is one of the Serbian government’s priority objectives, alongside obtaining candidate status and establishing a viable visa regime with the EU. 

The text was debated by the parliament in Belgrade yesterday, and Tadic said he was confident that it would be ratified this week. 

On the EU side, the Dutch government’s attitude is currently the only remaining obstacle to the implementation of the accord. Some EU member states have been pushing for ratification of the SAA since Karadzic’s capture on 21 July (EURACTIV 22/07/08). 

But Dutch officials insist they will only withdraw their veto once the other wanted war criminal, General Ratko Mladic, is arrested and handed over to the ICTY. They also await confirmation from the tribunal’s chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz of Belgrade’s full cooperation with the court. 

Brammertz is set to visit Belgrade on 10 September and will brief EU foreign ministers at their meeting five days later. 

Tadic stressed that his government was doing “everything possible” to arrest Mladic and Goran Hadzic, another on the tribunal’s most-wanted list. “The first day after we find them, we will deliver them,” he said. 

On Kosovo, the EU’s Serbian guests were less inclined to concede any ground. “We will never give up Kosovo,” Tadic stressed. Asked whether the Serbian government was willing to cooperate with the EU’s rule of law mission to Kosovo (EULEX), Jeremic said the deployment had to be conditional on a mandate by the UN Security Council, where Serbia can rely on the veto power of its close Russian ally (EURACTIV 20/08/08). 

But Moscow will not be able to count on Serbia’s recognition of the Georgian breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkazia in exchange for its support on Kosovo, Tadic said, noting that “Serbia is not going to do something that is against our interest, because we are defending out territorial integrity and sovereignty by using international law”. 

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Serbia ready to sacrifice EU membership over Kosovo

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