Serbia hails its clear path toward joining the E.U

Serbia hails its clear path toward joining the E.U.

IHT, STEPHEN CASTLE, March 3, 2012 Saturday

ABSTRACT

The Serbian president, Boris Tadic, said his country's acceptance as a candidate for the E.U. was a "great achievement" for a nation once ostracized for its role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

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A day after Serbia formally become a candidate for membership in the European Union, its leader called the development a ''great achievement'' Friday for a nation once ostracized for its role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

''This is a great day for Serbia,'' President Boris Tadic said in a televised news conference in Belgrade.

At a meeting in Brussels, E.U. leaders agreed on Thursday that the government in Belgrade had made enough progress to be placed on a clear path toward joining the bloc.

What it takes to clear path toward joining the EU

In recent years, Serbia has stepped up cooperation on tracking down war crimes suspects, and last month it signed an agreement to improve contacts with Kosovo, a southern Serbian province that has declared independence. Last October, the European Commission made improved relations with Kosovo a condition of Serbia's being granted official candidacy.

''We agreed tonight to grant Serbia the status of E.U. candidate country,'' Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, said Thursday. ''This is a remarkable achievement, a result of the efforts demonstrated by both sides in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.''

Serbia was considered responsible for much of the conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s, and NATO bombed it in 1999 in an effort to prevent a more severe crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The legacy of that period set back Serbia's efforts to join the European Union as it struggled to come to terms with the past while modernizing its economy and political system.

Concerns – I think timely and legitimate – neighboring states raised

Analysts say that the symbolism of Serbia's being welcomed by Europe after 20 years of isolation is not seen so clearly by its neighbors, which are far more focused on daily concerns. Despite the progress of the Western Balkans toward European integration, economic standards here are the lowest in Europe.

Sonja Biserko, who heads the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, said Friday that the leaders of the European Union had made a strategic decision: to integrate Serbia within the E.U. system rather than allow it to use its potential to destabilize the region, specifically in Kosovo and Bosnia.

''Serbia has finally decided on its strategic orientation after three decades of not being sure where it belongs,'' Ms. Biserko said.

For years, the Serbian bid for membership was thwarted because of the hunt for Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander. That obstacle disappeared when Mr. Mladic was arrested last year and handed to a U.N. tribunal in The Hague, where he has been indicted on genocide charges. Prosecutors have argued that forces under his military command massacred more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995.

What made EU embrace Serbia

The European Union has struggled in recent years to accommodate 12 new nations, which it accepted in 2004 and 2007. Most are former Communist countries. But despite flagging public enthusiasm for the prospect of further enlargement,  European policy makers have kept the door open to Balkan countries in the hope that the lure of E.U. membership can help stabilize a volatile region.

Slovenia joined the bloc in 2004, and next year Croatia is to become the second E.U. member that once was part of Yugoslavia.

Even with candidate status, it is likely that Serbia will have to wait about a year for a starting date for negotiations with the European Commission to bring its laws in line with E.U. laws, a process that can take several years. Talks with Croatia began in 2005 and concluded late last year.

No country that has begun negotiations has ever been denied E.U. membership, although Turkey's accession process has stalled over its refusal to recognize Cyprus, an E.U. member.  (DO – and Muslim … )

Issue ahead of road toward joining EU

Serbia will have to navigate a series of difficult issues as part of its application. The government in Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state and was not asked to do so as a condition of gaining candidate status by the bloc, which is itself divided on the issue.

Europe's leaders, however, did insist on improved relations between Serbia and Kosovo before taking the latest step. Last month, the two sides agreed on conditions under which Kosovo could be represented at international meetings and on technical parameters for border controls. Serbia agreed for the first time to cooperate in forums in which Kosovo is represented by Kosovars, but the name Kosovo will be marked by an asterisk indicating its disputed status.

Diplomats hope the deal on border issues will reduce recent tension in northern Kosovo, where many Serbs reject the government in Pristina.

In Pristina, the public is more interested in discussing the border agreement than Serbia's invitation to start talks with the European Union, analysts said.

''The debate has focused more on the asterisk than if Serbia will join the E.U.,'' said Agron Demi, a policy analyst from the Institute for Advanced Studies GAP in Pristina.

''Kosovo has won a little bit with this agreement but Serbia has won a lot,'' Mr. Demi said. ''Kosovars were hoping that someone would block Serbia's candidacy because people don't feel Serbia has fulfilled the requirements of the E.U.''

Reaction by Croatia to Serbia being welcomed by EU

Zarko Puhovski, a professor of political science at Zagreb University, said the news about Serbia was talked about in Croatia, but it was not dominating the headlines. Despite unresolved anger over Serbia's role the war in Croatia in the early 1990s, Croats are too cynical about the process to pay attention to the symbolism of the E.U. ''welcoming'' Serbia to Europe, he said.

''Croats are so disappointed with the moral content of the European Union that no one views a country entering it as a point of distinction,'' Mr. Puhovski said from Zagreb.


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a key deal b/w Serbia and Kosovo on border control and Kosovo's representation at international meeting 

Kosovo and Serbia reach key deal

Pact on border controls should help Belgrade with its E.U. aspirations

MATTHEW BRUNWASSER, IHT, February 25, 2012 Saturday

ABSTRACT

The agreement outlines the conditions under which Kosovo can be represented at international meetings and will help Serbia move toward E.U. candidate status.

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Serbia and Kosovo, its former province, reached an agreement Friday that helps pave the way for Serbia's gaining official ''candidate'' status to join the European Union.

The agreement outlines the conditions under which Kosovo can be represented at international meetings and outlines technical parameters for border controls.

European Commission leaders will meet in the coming week to decide on whether Serbia has met all the criteria to begin accession talks; a key sticking point had been the tense relations with Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. A previous E.U. meeting, in December, declined to offer Serbia an invitation, as German peacekeeping troops had come under attack by Serbs in North Kosovo.

Serbia has until now thwarted any participation by representatives of the Kosovo government in international meetings by walking out or refusing to participate. Under the new agreement, Serbia will accept international forums in which Kosovo is represented by Kosovars for the first time.

The diplomatically complex agreement states that the word ''Republic'' will not appear next to the name Kosovo in international forums. Instead, a footnote will refer to Security Council Resolution 1244 - which did not mention the independence of Kosovo - and a ruling by the International Court of Justice saying that Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008 was legal.

There are hopes that the agreement on technical border issues will reduce violence like the incidents seen in recent months by ethnic Serbs living in North Kosovo who refuse to live under rule from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.

Diplomats said the agreements cleared the path to a positive decision when E.U. heads of government will decide to begin the process of making Serbia a member of the bloc - a process that could take years.

''These agreements are a major step forward,'' Catherine Ashton, the E.U. foreign policy chief, and Stefan Fule, the European commissioner for enlargement, said in a joint statement Friday. ''They are important not just for Serbia and Kosovo but for the stability of the region and thus for the E.U.''

In Belgrade, the agreement was seen by Serbs as an inevitable compromise Serbia had to make to join the Union, said Bratislav Grubacic, the editor of the VIP news agency in Belgrade and a political commentator.

The main difficulty faced by the Serbian negotiators, he said, was ''how not to provoke any angry reactions in Serbia.''

The former Serbian province remains a hot button issue in Serbian politics. The Serbian minority and Orthodox churches in the predominantly Muslim country continue to occupy a powerful place in the Serbian psyche and stoke genuine passions.

Serbia will hold parliamentary elections in May and E.U. candidacy is seen as key for the ruling center-left coalition to remain in power.

But it is becoming less clear how important E.U. candidacy will be for Serbian voters, Mr. Grubacic said.

In Kosovo, the public is irritated at the government's agreement to not use the word ''Republic'' in regional forums, according to Engjellushe Morina, a political analyst in Pristina.

''The public feeling is that we are being used as a tool for Serbia to get E.U. candidate status,'' she said. ''What is Kosovo getting out of all of this?''

The European Commission will study the feasibility of reaching a Stabilization and Association Agreement with Kosovo, which would be the first step toward membership in the European Union. Kosovo currently has none.

''This is a de facto recognition of the independence of Kosovo,'' said Edita Tahiri, Kosovo's lead negotiator.

She says 88 countries, including the United States and all E.U. member states except for five, now recognize the independent Republic of Kosovo.

Until now, Kosovo has been represented in international forums by Unmik - the United Nations Mission in Kosovo.

Serbia was expected to be granted candidate status after it captured Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander, last year. But Germany blocked move that in December, saying it wanted to see progress in talks between Serbia and Kosovo.

But on Friday, the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, called the agreement ''a big step in the right direction.'' Mr. Westerwelle, speaking in Brussels, added that the agreement's endorsement by both sides would be important to Serbia's prospects.

Asked about the agreement to not use the word ''Republic,'' Ms. Tahiri said, ''We are focusing on the substance, rather than the formalities.''

The opposition Vetevendosje party in Kosovo released a statement accusing the government of removing the ''Republic'' from Kosovo in exchange for a footnote.

''We are a Republic for ourselves only. And this is exactly contrary to the concept of a Republic,'' the statement said.

The party said it would organize a protest on Monday to ''suspend for four hours the work of this government, which is suspending our state and independence.