Brussels - Serbia could become a candidate for European
Union membership as early as 2009 following the capture of war-crimes
indictee Radovan Karadzic, European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso said Wednesday.
'If everything goes according to plan, and all the conditions are
met, it will be possible to give candidate status to Serbia in 2009,'
Barroso said after a meeting in Brussels with Serbian President Boris
Tadic.
The commission chief described the July capture of Karadzic as a
'milestone' and a 'historic moment'. He said the EU should now reward
Serbia by implementing an agreement on trade liberalization, part of
a broader political deal which the EU and Serbia signed in the
spring.
However, he stressed that the decision lies in the hands of EU
member states, and that Serbia would have to continue with political
and economic reforms if it wants to move closer to membership.
Tadic welcomed the comments, saying that the implementation of the
trade deal was one of three key steps towards his country's main
strategic goal of full EU membership.
The president also stressed that his government was doing
everything in its power to arrest two other war-crimes suspects,
Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, who are wanted by international
prosecutors in the Hague.
'The first day after we find them, we will deliver them,' Tadic
said.
Since the beginning of the year, the EU has been engaged in an
intricate diplomatic dance with Serbia, offering Belgrade a series of
deals in a successful bid to boost pro-EU voters in crucial
presidential and parliamentary elections.
The key move was the decision on April 29 to sign a Stabilization
and Association Agreement (SAA), which is seen as a precursor to
candidate status, immediately before parliamentary polls on May 11.
However, under pressure from the Dutch government, the EU decided
not to ratify the SAA until Serbia is judged to be cooperating
fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague.
Dutch officials insist that they will only withdraw their veto
once Mladic is arrested and handed to the Hague and ICTY's chief
prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, has certified that Belgrade is
cooperating fully with his organization.
Brammertz is set to visit Belgrade on September 10 and is expected
to brief EU foreign ministers at a formal meeting on September 15.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said he hoped his colleagues
from the Netherlands and from other EU member states would agree to
ratify the SAA at their September 15 meeting.
'We have grounds to be optimistic,' Jeremic told reporters after a
meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Asked whether the Serbian government was willing to cooperate with
the EULEX mission to Kosovo - the Serbian enclave which declared
independence in February - Jeremic said that the deployment of the
EU's civilian mission would first have to be concurred by the United
Nations Security Council.
'Our red lines are clear: We want to work within the boundaries of
Security Council Resolution 1244,' Jeremic said in reference to the
authorization of an international civil and military presence in
Kosovo as part of an interim UN administration.
Russia, which is a close ally of Serbia and which holds veto
powers in New York, argues that such a resolution, adopted in 1999,
does not cover the EULEX mission.
Earlier Wednesday, Tadic had said that his government would not
follow Moscow's lead and recognize the independence of Georgia's
breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
'Serbia is not going to do something that is against our interest,
because we are defending out territorial integrity and sovereignty by
using international law,' Tadic said.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story