Homepage
Sitemap
Larger
Smaller
Login
Registration
Help
Terms of use
A compromise for Serbia
29.01.2008, 10:14
On Monday, 28th January, less then a week from the second round of voting in the Serbian presidential elections (3 February), EU foreign ministers discussed the situation in Serbia.
The main topic was how to help the pro-Europeans in Belgrade to keep the country on course for European integration.
The majority of EU ministers had initially aimed to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) - the first step to EU membership - with Belgrade on Monday, hoping it would serve to boost pro-Western presidential candidate Boris Tadic ahead of the elections, but the Netherlands and Belgium remaining strongly against the signing of a genuine pre-membership deal, because the Hague has said Serbia must first demonstrate full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia by arresting the remaining fugitives wanted by the ICTY, the ministers agreed to offer Serbia an interim political pact to be signed on 7 February. The pact will offer Belgrade closer trade relations, relaxed visa requirements and educational cooperation.
"This text is far away from the
SAA, therefore I am satisfied with the outcome of this meeting", the Dutch
premier said.
EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn
welcomed the political agreement as a "very strong signal to Serbia",
which has now to make a choice between its "nationalistic past and its
European future", he said
"This is a text that will open up the doors of Serbia to the EU,"
Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the
rotating EU presidency, stated at the end of the meeting with his EU
counterparts.
The actual signing of the document will also depend on Sunday's elections
outcome, however.
Source: EUobserver.com