Serbia makes modest EU progress after Kosovo shift

By Justyna Pawlak
LUXEMBOURG Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:57pm BST
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union moved closer to starting membership talks with Serbia Monday but warned Belgrade any further progress will depend on its full cooperation with a United Nations war crimes tribunal.
EU foreign ministers agreed to ask the bloc's executive commission for an opinion on launching entry talks with Serbia, a procedural step in the long accession process and one they had withheld in recent months.
Belgrade has gained more support for its EU candidacy since agreeing in July to negotiate with the breakaway province of Kosovo, bowing to demands for better regional cooperation.
But the EU faces a dilemma on how to balance the need to encourage democratic reforms in Serbia and the rest of the EU-bound Western Balkans, while keeping up pressure on Belgrade to come to terms with its violent nationalist past.
"A good balance has been found between ... recognising Serbia's efforts in recent months ... and a message that full cooperation with the tribunal is still a condition," said Steven Vanackere, foreign minister of Belgium, which holds the EU presidency for six months.
In particular, EU governments want Belgrade to catch Serb general Ratko Mladic, indicted for genocide in the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
To allay concern among some EU governments that progress towards accession would send a wrong signal to Belgrade, the ministers agreed any future steps require unanimous assessment of its cooperation with the United Nations by EU states.
BALANCING ACT
Monday's decision is seen as positive for the investment climate in Serbia, which has made some efforts in recent years towards reconciliation in the Balkans after its central role in the wars that followed the collapse of federal Yugoslavia.
The Serbian parliament apologised in March for the killings in Srebrenica but stopped short of calling them "genocide," in a clear sign that the past still polarises the country of seven million people.
Mending ties with Kosovo is also likely to face hurdles, with Belgrade refusing to recognise the province as a state, even though the European Union has made it clear that good neighbourly relations are a prerequisite to accession.
However, catching Mladic -- or convincing the EU that it cannot do that -- may be decisive for Serbia to see any significant progress in its EU bid.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic reiterated Belgrade's pledge to do everything in its power to catch the 68-year-old former Bosnian Serb military commander who, U.N. officials say, most likely lives in Serbia.
"If we find him today, we will arrest him today," Djelic told reporters in Luxembourg after Monday's decision.
The capture of Mladic is particularly resonant in the Netherlands, the EU state that lobbied strongly for ensuring cooperation with the U.N. tribunal is closely monitored. Dutch troops were protecting a United Nations safe zone for civilians in Srebrenica that was overrun by Mladic's soldiers.

"With every step on the road to Europe, Serbia has to prove that it fully cooperates with the tribunal," Dutch Minister Uri Rosenthal said in Luxembourg.
Serbia lags many of its former Yugoslav neighbours in advances towards the EU. Slovenia is in the EU and euro zone, Croatia hopes to join in the next couple of years and Macedonia and Montenegro are also ahead in the integration process.
EU diplomats said the Commission was likely to issue its opinion, which could give a green light to accession talks, in the second half of next year.
(Editing by Rex Merrifield and Mark Heinrich)

reuters

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE69O1GQ20101025?pageNumber=2