Serbia rushes to launch accession talks

The EU moved closer to starting accession talks with Serbia yesterday (25 October) after overcoming long-standing opposition from the Dutch government. Belgrade said a "new era" in its history had begun. Meeting in Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers found a formula to unblock the launch of accession talks with Serbia. The diplomatic jargon adopted accommodates the Netherlands' demand that any further step in Serbia's EU accession must be conditional on Belgrade's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The move became possible after Belgrade agreed to engage in talks with Kosovo, its former province, whose declaration of independence in 2008 Serbia does not recognise. Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said he was satisfied that the compromise text had put "pressure" on Serbia to fully cooperate with the ICTY. Steven Vanackere, Belgium's foreign minister, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, praised the "good balance" of the text. In fact, Belgium made a huge contribution to successfully reaching the compromise. It had to step aside from its own national position as its duty at the EU’s helm is to seek a common position. Jean de Ruyt, Belgium's EU ambassador, told EurActiv that his country's stance on the need for full cooperation with ICTY mirrored the Dutch view.

In Belgrade, the head of the EU delegation to Serbia, Vincent Degert, said it would be "realistic" for the country to start accession talks in a year's time. Apparently Serbia, the 'core country' of the former Yugoslavia, is in a race to secure speedy accession talks for various reasons. One of them, according diplomatic sources, is that Belgrade wants to wrap up its membership talks before Croatia's EU accession, which could realistically happen in 2013.

News source: EurActiv link: article

Double-edged decision looming on Serbia

EU foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on Monday (25 October), are expected to finally unblock Serbia's association process, which has been stalled for years over the Netherlands' insistence on seeing war criminal Ratko Mladić brought to justice. Jean de Ruyt, EU ambassador for Belgium, the country currently holding the rotating EU presidency, told the press today (22 October) that an agreement was in sight at the next ministers' meeting in Luxembourg.
He added, however, that in return for the deal, the EU would apply "very, very close monitoring" on Serbia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Nevertheless, De Ruyt said that some member countries were still opposed to introducing a strict conditionality clause referring to the ICTY.

This is the first time the term "monitoring" has been used in connection with a Western Balkan country's accession process. De Ruyt admitted himself that such a strict monitoring system had not been applied to Croatia, a country well advanced in its EU accession negotiations. He added, however, that similar conditions would apply for Zagreb in the crucial negotiation chapter of justice and fundamental rights. "The cooperation of Serbia with ICTY is not perfect, but we should decide at the end of the accession process," the Belgian diplomat said.

According to De Ruyt's reasoning, each step of Serbia's EU accession process would be conditional on cooperation with the ICTY. All decisions on enlargement-related issues are taken by unanimity, and in a country's accession process, there are over one hundred veto opportunities.
De Ruyt explained that the situation in the Netherlands was "complicated," with a new minority government, new ministers responsible for EU enlargement and a Parliament which gave "little window of opportunity" for the cabinet to unblock Serbia's EU bid.
In particular, the Parliament had instructed the government to postpone any decision regarding Serbia ahead of the next report on the country by ICTY chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz.

News source: EurActiv link: article