Brussels - Serbia could become a candidate for European
Union membership in 2009 if it proves that it is doing its best to
catch war-crimes suspects, the EU's executive said Wednesday.
'Under the best possible scenario, Serbia may still be able to
obtain candidate status in 2009,' EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn said as he presented the European Commission's annual reports on
the countries which are hoping to join the bloc.
However, the Balkans' largest state 'needs to follow by positive
developments through full cooperation with the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and making tangible
progress in priority reform areas related to the rule of law and
economic reform' to gain that status, the report stressed.
ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz is set to report to the
UN Security Council on Serbia's cooperation with his organization in
December. The EU is eagerly awaiting his report, Rehn said.
Relations between Belgrade and the EU have been embittered since
the beginning of the year by the decision of most EU member states to
recognize the independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo, which
declared independence in February.
However, since February the EU has offered Serbia a series of
political and economic deals in a bid to strengthen pro-Western
politicians in presidential and parliamentary elections.
Following the elections, in which the pro-Western forces scored
victory, the Serbian government in July arrested former Bosnian Serb
political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is wanted by ICTY prosecutors
for his alleged role in war crimes in the 1990s Balkan wars.
That arrest was 'a major step forward, but this process needs to
be completed,' the commission paper said.
A number of EU member states, led by the Netherlands, insist that
Serbia should not be allowed to move closer to the EU until
Karadzic's military commander, Ratko Mladic, is also arrested and
handed over to ICTY in The Hague.
Serbia's decision to oppose Kosovo's independence only by
diplomatic and legal means has also won grudging respect in Brussels.
'Serbia has vowed to use only peaceful means and has exercised
restraint in its response to the declaration of independence by the
Kosovo assembly,' the report noted.
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