Servië dient nog voor eind dit jaar aanvraag lidmaatschap EU in (en)

"The basic groundwork is there for Serbia to submit its official application for EU membership. We hope to do so by the end of this year", Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told members of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee this Thursday. However, he would not back a call by MEPs for the Serbian government to encourage Serbian Kosovars to take part in upcoming local elections in Kosovo.

"EU-Serbia relations have improved dramatically since the minister's last visit two years ago", a few days after Kosovo declared its independence, said Gabriele Albertini (EPP, IT), chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, as he welcomed the minister. "The recent elections led to the setting-up of a pro-European coalition in Belgrade which has in the meantime handed over Radovan Karadzic to the Hague Tribunal".

Mr Albertini and MEPs welcomed the efforts made by Serbia on its road towards EU membership, as highlighted in the latest Commission progress report. "We are greatly encouraged by the Commission's assessment that Serbia is fully committed to joining the EU", said Mr Jeremic, adding that "Serbia is fundamentally committed to fulfilling its European destiny".   "Our most important achievement is visa liberalisation", he argued.

Local elections in Kosovo on 15 November

On Kosovo, Mr Vuk reiterated Serbia's longstanding position: "the Republic of Serbia will never, under any circumstances, implicitly or explicitly recognise the UDI - the unilateral declaration of independence - by the ethnic-Albanian authorities of our southern province of Kosovo".

Jelko Kacin (ALDE, SL), rapporteur for Serbia, and Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA, AT), rapporteur for Kosovo, called on the minister to appeal to Serbian Kosovars to take part in next week's local elections in Kosovo. Mr Vuk did not reply to this request but said "it is not possible for Serbia to endorse these local elections, called in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1244 and in violation of Serbia's Constitution".

A seven-strong delegation of MEPs led by Doris Pack (EPP, DE) will be in Kosovo from 13 to 16 November to assess how the first elections since Kosovo's independence are conducted.

They will visit polling stations in various parts of the country but not observe the elections in a formal capacity.

Cooperation with the ICTY

MEPs made it clear to Mr Jeremic that Radko Mladic and other war-crime indictees needed to be handed over to the ICTY as swiftly as possible.  The minister replied "we are doing everything we can to catch the indictees at large. We will not stop until we have done so!".

Croatia and "enlargement fatigue"

"We are afraid that that some may still hold the view that taking a break after Croatia joins the EU is an action Europe must take. Enlargement fatigue in Member States would result in accession fatigue among its aspirants. A new psychological fault line would appear across the western Balkans", said the minister.

Eduard Kukan (EPP, SK), chair of the EP delegation with the western Balkans, replied, saying Serbia should "concentrate on fulfilling the political criteria needed to join the EU instead of overemphasising the so-called enlargement fatigue after Croatia becomes an EU member".

03/11/2009