Belgrade - The Serbian parliament on Tuesday backed the
Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European
Union, taking a small step toward membership of the bloc.
In the 250-seat assembly, 140 voted for the SAA, which is a pre-
membership agreement and still a long way off full membership of the
EU, while 28 representatives from former prime minister Vojislav
Kostunica's camp voted against.
None of the 78 deputies from the opposition ultra-nationalist
Serbian Radical Party (SRS), which is in turmoil and crumbling over
Serbian relations with EU, took part in the vote.
Serbia and the EU initialled the SAA in November 2007 and signed
it in late April in Luxembourg.
Now the 27 EU member states also need to approve the treaty to put
it into effect, which remains unlikely until Serbia brings the two
internationally wanted war crime fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran
Hadzic, to justice.
The UN war crimes prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, is due in Belgrade
Wednesday and Thursday.
Following the visit, he plans to assess the level of cooperation
by Serbia and report to EU ministers.
Though Mladic and Hadzic remain on the run, Serbia is hoping that
a positive report by Brammertz could launch a series of SAA
ratifications among member states and lead to its promotion to a
membership candidate as early as 2009.
'This is a historic moment for Serbia,' the Serbian deputy premier
in charge of relations with EU, Bozidar Djelic, told reporters after
the SAA ratification.
'The road is paved for Serbia to put up its membership candidacy.'
Once it comes into effect, the treaty would define the terms and
conditions in the flow of goods, people and capital between the EU
and Serbia, as well as dictate the tempo of legislative alignment by
the prospective member.
The SAA vote was delayed by two months by the nationalist
opposition, which obstructed each motion in parliament by
filibustering and forced an early, prolonged recess in mid-July.
The outcome has finally firmly set Serbia on its European course,
after months of wavering in the wake of the secession of its province
of Kosovo, which triggered the fall of Kostunica's government and
early elections in May.
The pro-European camp grouped behind President Boris Tadic closely
defeated the Serbian nationalist bloc - which has since started
splitting amid infighting between hardliners and moderates.
Though neither of the two wings took part in the SAA vote, the
moderate leader, Tomislav Nikolic, described the ratification as
'historic.'
Claiming to control 19 of the 78 SRS seats in the assembly just
days after resigning as the acting party leader, it is expected that
Nikolic would either gain control over the SRS and reform it toward
the political centre or form a new party.
Legislators, including all SRS deputies, also overwhelmingly
passed a major energy deal with Russia - with 212 votes in favour and
26 against - despite criticism that it included an unfavourable sale
of the national oil monopoly NIS.
According to the deal, Russia would divert its projected
multibillion-dollar South Stream natural gas pipeline to cross Serbia
and buy a 51-per-cent stake in NIS for 400 million euros (570 million
dollars).
Among the votes against the treaty with Russia were
representatives of G17 Plus, a reformist party which is a part of
Tadic's ruling coalition.
Pointing to independent audits, G17 claims that the value of NIS
is three times greater than what it is being sold for.
In a session with only a series of votes on the agenda, parliament
also approved a series of credit arrangements worth hundreds of
millions of dollars.
The deals had also been stalled for months owing to political
uncertainty in Serbia.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story