European Forum

Belgrade rejects Dutch proposal to partly unfreeze the Interim Trade Agreement

Serbia’s government has rejected the proposal of Dutch Minster of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, to partly implement the Interim Trade Agreement with the EU. According to the Serbian deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić, Serbia wants “all of interim deal” and does not find it acceptable to implement it only for some products. Furthermore, Đelić argued that it is time to unblock the Agreement as Serbia’s policy is that of complete cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The Netherlands and Belgium― who seem to be prepared to block further integration of Serbia within the EU until war crime suspect Ratko Mladić is arrested― offered to unfreeze some parts of the Interim Trade Agreement as a sign of good will. This sign was, however, not positively received in Belgrade that wants either the Trade Agreement unblocked fully, or to find a formula which will be acceptable for Serbia. All other EU member states are in favour of implementing the agreement, which is part of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) which Serbia and the EU signed in February of 2008. Deputy Prime Minister Đelić intends to send a delegation to the Netherlands to convince the Dutch parliament to unblock the agreement completely.

Source: B92, Politika and ANP