By STEPHEN CASTLE
Published: October 25, 2010
LUXEMBOURG — Serbia took a significant step toward membership in the European Union on Monday, despite the union’s suspicions that the country could do more to bring Europe’s most-wanted war crimes suspect to justice.
At a meeting here on Monday, foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc decided to open Serbia’s path to membership, overriding objections from those who want to keep pressure on the government in Belgrade to help arrest Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb general accused of genocide.
At the insistence of the Netherlands — which has consistently put a brake on Serbia’s push for membership — the union’s decision included a statement that future steps would be approved only if all member countries agreed that Belgrade was cooperating fully with war crime investigations.
Nevertheless, the decision to ask the European Commission to prepare a formal assessment of Serbia’s suitability for membership is an important symbolic moment for Serbia, though there remains a considerable distance from even starting talks on actual membership. And Serbia’s ambitions to join the bloc will remain complicated and politically sensitive as long as Mr. Mladic is at large.
United Nations war crimes prosecutors allege that Mr. Mladic was the chief planner and organizer of the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995, which led to the deaths of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, Europe’s worst incident of mass murder since World War II.
An investigation by The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune published last week reported that after 15 years on the run, Mr. Mladic was being hidden by no more than a handful of loyalists, probably in a neighborhood of Communist-era public housing in Belgrade.
Asked whether the Serbian authorities were really looking for Mr. Mladic, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Serge Brammertz, gave an equivocal response: “It is difficult for me to answer this question.”
Monday’s decision reflects the desire of almost all European Union nations to show flexibility toward Serbia to try to bring stability to the Balkans. Anchoring the Serbs within the process of European integration is seen by many as the best method of guaranteeing peace in the region. Serbia formally applied for membership last December, but even with the most positive outcome, its membership is many years away.
Western capitals have recently viewed the attitude of the government in Belgrade as being more constructive over the status of Kosovo, its former province.
Speaking in Luxembourg, Pierre Lellouche, France’s minister for Europe, said that “the Serbian government had made considerable efforts over Kosovo, which is very difficult and very complex.”
The bloc’s statement on Monday was well balanced, he added. A positive signal had been sent to the Serbian government but future progress toward membership was conditional, Mr. Lellouche said.
In September, Serbia supported a compromise United Nations resolution on Kosovo that dropped its earlier demands to reopen talks on the status of its former province. That followed a ruling in July by the International Court of Justice in The Hague that Kosovo did not violate international law when it declared independence.
The European Union is hoping to foster direct talks between Serb and Kosovo officials on practical cooperation, discussions that could take place before the end of the year.
Analysts said the decision on Monday also reflected the delicate balancing act facing the union and the need to give some encouragement to the government of President Boris Tadic, which has struck a pro-European stance in Serbia.
“I think there really was no other choice for the E.U.,” said Gerald Knaus, director of the European Stability Institute, a Berlin-based research organization.
A formal study on Serbia’s membership application is a prerequisite for starting negotiations on membership, but it does not guarantee that talks will begin. Even if the European Commission’s advice were positive, member nations would still have another chance to block negotiations.
The Netherlands has consistently tried to slow the process, and the Dutch Parliament has been critical of concessions to Belgrade. That is because of the unwitting role of the Netherlands in the massacre at Srebrenica, where lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers failed to prevent the slaughter.
The Dutch capital, the Hague, is home to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the United Nations court that has tried those held responsible for atrocities committed in the conflict.
“I think the conclusions were balanced,” said Uri Rosenthal, the Dutch Foreign Minister, speaking in Luxembourg. “They were tough. That is what we actually wanted to achieve and we achieved it. So I am happy with the result.”
The Serbian deputy prime minister, Bozidar Djelic, said his country was determined to track down Mr. Mladic. “If we find him today, we will arrest him today,” he said.
But some advocacy groups were disappointed.
“The European Union should not give in to Serbia’s half-hearted cooperation with The Hague,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The E.U. needs to go beyond lip service to accountability, or the victims of Srebrenica will never get the justice they deserve.”
Slovenia, which was admitted to the European Union in 2004, is the only former Yugoslav republic to have joined the bloc, though Croatia is likely to be accepted within a few years.
Published: October 25, 2010
LUXEMBOURG — Serbia took a significant step toward membership in the European Union on Monday, despite the union’s suspicions that the country could do more to bring Europe’s most-wanted war crimes suspect to justice.
At a meeting here on Monday, foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc decided to open Serbia’s path to membership, overriding objections from those who want to keep pressure on the government in Belgrade to help arrest Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb general accused of genocide.
At the insistence of the Netherlands — which has consistently put a brake on Serbia’s push for membership — the union’s decision included a statement that future steps would be approved only if all member countries agreed that Belgrade was cooperating fully with war crime investigations.
Nevertheless, the decision to ask the European Commission to prepare a formal assessment of Serbia’s suitability for membership is an important symbolic moment for Serbia, though there remains a considerable distance from even starting talks on actual membership. And Serbia’s ambitions to join the bloc will remain complicated and politically sensitive as long as Mr. Mladic is at large.
United Nations war crimes prosecutors allege that Mr. Mladic was the chief planner and organizer of the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995, which led to the deaths of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, Europe’s worst incident of mass murder since World War II.
An investigation by The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune published last week reported that after 15 years on the run, Mr. Mladic was being hidden by no more than a handful of loyalists, probably in a neighborhood of Communist-era public housing in Belgrade.
Asked whether the Serbian authorities were really looking for Mr. Mladic, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Serge Brammertz, gave an equivocal response: “It is difficult for me to answer this question.”
Monday’s decision reflects the desire of almost all European Union nations to show flexibility toward Serbia to try to bring stability to the Balkans. Anchoring the Serbs within the process of European integration is seen by many as the best method of guaranteeing peace in the region. Serbia formally applied for membership last December, but even with the most positive outcome, its membership is many years away.
Western capitals have recently viewed the attitude of the government in Belgrade as being more constructive over the status of Kosovo, its former province.
Speaking in Luxembourg, Pierre Lellouche, France’s minister for Europe, said that “the Serbian government had made considerable efforts over Kosovo, which is very difficult and very complex.”
The bloc’s statement on Monday was well balanced, he added. A positive signal had been sent to the Serbian government but future progress toward membership was conditional, Mr. Lellouche said.
In September, Serbia supported a compromise United Nations resolution on Kosovo that dropped its earlier demands to reopen talks on the status of its former province. That followed a ruling in July by the International Court of Justice in The Hague that Kosovo did not violate international law when it declared independence.
The European Union is hoping to foster direct talks between Serb and Kosovo officials on practical cooperation, discussions that could take place before the end of the year.
Analysts said the decision on Monday also reflected the delicate balancing act facing the union and the need to give some encouragement to the government of President Boris Tadic, which has struck a pro-European stance in Serbia.
“I think there really was no other choice for the E.U.,” said Gerald Knaus, director of the European Stability Institute, a Berlin-based research organization.
A formal study on Serbia’s membership application is a prerequisite for starting negotiations on membership, but it does not guarantee that talks will begin. Even if the European Commission’s advice were positive, member nations would still have another chance to block negotiations.
The Netherlands has consistently tried to slow the process, and the Dutch Parliament has been critical of concessions to Belgrade. That is because of the unwitting role of the Netherlands in the massacre at Srebrenica, where lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers failed to prevent the slaughter.
The Dutch capital, the Hague, is home to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the United Nations court that has tried those held responsible for atrocities committed in the conflict.
“I think the conclusions were balanced,” said Uri Rosenthal, the Dutch Foreign Minister, speaking in Luxembourg. “They were tough. That is what we actually wanted to achieve and we achieved it. So I am happy with the result.”
The Serbian deputy prime minister, Bozidar Djelic, said his country was determined to track down Mr. Mladic. “If we find him today, we will arrest him today,” he said.
But some advocacy groups were disappointed.
“The European Union should not give in to Serbia’s half-hearted cooperation with The Hague,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The E.U. needs to go beyond lip service to accountability, or the victims of Srebrenica will never get the justice they deserve.”
Slovenia, which was admitted to the European Union in 2004, is the only former Yugoslav republic to have joined the bloc, though Croatia is likely to be accepted within a few years.
ny times
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου