EU-voorzitterschap voor hechtere band met Servië (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Slovenia, currently at the helm of the European Union, is set to push for signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) - the first step to EU membership - with Belgrade in January.
"I am one of those who believe the SAA should be signed as soon as possible, possibly by the end of this month", Slovenia's foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel said on Tuesday (8 January).
Mr Rupel also announced the EU bloc would set up a special "task force" aimed at helping Serbia to speed up its progress towards the agreement, including the country's "even greater cooperation" with the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
A symbolic initialling of the pact took place in November.
But Slovenia's chief diplomat acknowledged that enthusiasm for the final rubber-stamping varies among EU governments. "Some of our colleagues have to be persuaded this is a good idea", he said.
The 27-nation club is not entirely united over whether to insist on "full cooperation" with the tribunal, which would mean that general Ratko Mladic, who led Bosnian Serb troops throughout the 1992-1995 war, is located, arrested and transferred to the Hague.
The Netherlands, home to the UN tribunal, is particularly insistent on this condition. By contrast, Bulgaria is pushing for the agreement to be signed even without Mladic having been delivered to the Hague.
EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, for his part, said on Tuesday that full cooperation with the ICTY "has been, still is and will be the essential condition for the signature of the SAA agreement with Serbia".
He added that Belgrade's level of cooperation would be soon discussed when he meets UN chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz.
Serbia's situation has been further politically complicated by the upcoming presidential race.
The first round of elections will be held on 20 January, with a possible run-off election on 3 February.
Just few days ago (3 January), Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica issued a warning, saying "the EU must choose whether it will sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia or, under the United States' pressure, send a mission to implement [a plan for] supervised independence of Kosovo, snatching part of Serbia's territory".
Mr Kostunica underlined that the launch of an EU police and civilian mission in Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovowould effectively "null and void" the initialling of the SAA.
Mr Rupel described such comments as "wrong" and reminded Belgrade that "it's not the EU that is endeavouring for Serbia to enter the EU. Serbia is the applicant for accession".
The EU is now setting its hopes on the re-election of current president Boris Tadic from the pro-European Democratic Party, but it is expected that he will be competing neck-and-neck with Tomislav Nikolic, vice-president of the Serbian Radical Party, the main opposition force.
According to Rosa Balfour from the Brussels-based think-tank the European Policy Centre, Tuesday's encouragement by Ljubljana tallies with the new signals by France that it wants to push ahead with EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans.
"The EU as a whole is trying to send a positive message through all channels, hoping that the EU's magnetic power will work", Ms Balfour said, but added the bloc should stick to the basic principles it preaches in order not to undermine its credibility.