European Forum

EP Foreign Affairs Committee backs resolution on Serbia

On 12 January the European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee supported the draft resolution urging approval of Serbia’s EU candidate status in March. MEPs also requested the start of the EU negotiations, primarily on the chapters regarding rule of law and judiciary. The draft is supported by the EP under the assumption that the Serbian authorities will by then fulfil the conditions determined at the EU leaders’ meeting in December 2011, namely, implementation of the agreements with Pristina.

In the beginning of December 2011 Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement on border crossing checks, but at the Euro-Summit the European Council decided that Serbia has to convince the Council that it is committed to a dialogue with Pristina. Also the agreed documents about border control has to be implemented and an agreement has to be reached on regional cooperation enabling EULEX and KFOR to perform their mandates.

Challanges on the European path of Serbia
The desire of Serbia to make further steps in the EU integration process was long blocked by the Netherlands, with the ‘full’ cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. With the arrests of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic last year this important obstacle was removed. However now it is Germany that is oposing Serbia obtaining a candidate status, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel Serbia does not meet the conditions of the EU accession process at the moment. In clashes with local Serbs two German KFOR soldiers got wounded in November last year.

Kosovo
At the Euro-summit in December Germany was allegedly the only country opposing Serbia to obtain a candidate status. But MEP and EP Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin, who presented the draft resolution, pointed out that Serbia had achieved all the key goals with the implemented reforms, full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and the dialogue with Pristina. He added that Serbia was facing challenges in the region, especially when it came to Kosovo, but stressed that the country had made an excellent progress bearing in mind that there was no dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina a year before. Kacin also stated that “The situation with Kosovo is unsatisfactory but President Boris Tadić has called for the removal of the barricades and Belgrade has done everything in its power to remove the barricades and allow free flow of people, goods and capital.”

The Kosovo’s opposition Self-Determination Movement (Vetevendosje) announced a border protest on 14 January in support of the resolution of Kosovo’s parliament demanding complete political and economical reciprocity toward Serbia. The Kosovo government decided not to implement this resolution.

Sources: B92, BalkanInsight, Radio Free Europe
Image: Francisco Antunes