balkan insight
17 Nov 2010 / 12:47
When European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele hands the pre-accession questionnaire to the Serbian authorities during his visit to Belgrade next week, a few 'wrong' answers on Kosovo could prove costly.
WAZ.EUobserver
"Serbian answers should be status neutral and respect UN Resolution 1244 as well," an EU member state diplomat told WAZ.EUobserver.
"That means Serbia will not be forced to recognise Kosovo's independence in the questionnaire but Belgrade should accept in the answers the reality that Kosovo is not under Serbian sovereignty or control."
"Serbian answers should be status neutral and respect UN Resolution 1244 as well," an EU member state diplomat told WAZ.EUobserver.
"That means Serbia will not be forced to recognise Kosovo's independence in the questionnaire but Belgrade should accept in the answers the reality that Kosovo is not under Serbian sovereignty or control."
Serbia's replies to the list of questions will largely determine the European Commission's assessment of the country's readiness to become an EU candidate and a positive opinion by the Commission is usually essential for an aspiring country to become an official candidate.
Either the European Commission or the Council of Ministers could advise against granting Belgrade candidate status or the decision could be put on hold until Belgrade has clarified contested positions, according to EU officials dealing with Serbia.
The questionnaire itself is 'status neutral' regarding Kosovo, and takes into account UN Resolution 1244, which set up an international military presence in Kosovo in 1999.
But even questions which were very easily answered by other potential candidate countries – state size, border length and other statistics concerning the number of municipalities or amount of agricultural land – are highly politicised in the case of Serbia.
"The elegant solution for the EU and Serbia could be using an asterisk for Kosovo," said an EU commission source. "Belgrade could present all dates for Serbia without Kosovo. Inserting the asterisk would mean that Serbia treats Kosovo in respect of UN Resolution 1244.
"This solution could satisfy all, having in mind that Kosovo is still not recognised by five EU member states. And Serbia, by recalling the Resolution 1244, would not harm its politics towards Kosovo."
Serbian officials, according to interlocutors in the EU institutions, are very well aware of the complications that could result from providing certain replies about Kosovo.
"Some important EU countries have already signalled they will veto Serbia's candidate status if Belgrade tries to use the questionnaire to affirm sovereignty and territorial integrity in Kosovo," an EU diplomat explained.
read more: balkan insight
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου