EU 'may resume talks with Serbia'
EU leaders today held open the possibility that suspended talks on an accord with Serbia leading towards EU membership may resume after parliamentary elections next month.
“Serbia is very welcome in the European Union,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after meeting Serbia’s pro-Western President Boris Tadic.
“After elections, if the new government shows resolve to co-operate with the International War Crimes Tribunal, negotiations will resume,” he said.
In May, the EU suspended talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement to pressure authorities to find and arrest war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic.
The suspension of talks on the accord, considered a key stepping stone to membership of the EU, dealt a major blow to Serbia’s efforts at reform following years of war and international isolation.
Since then, the government in Belgrade has been seeking a resumption of the talks saying it has been unable to find Mladic, who was indicted by the UN war crimes court in The Hague for alleged abuses committed during the 1992-to-1995 war in Bosnia.
Serbs go to the polls in parliamentary elections on January 21.
EU leaders have indicated that if pro-democracy forces prevail over the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, they will be willing to reopen the process on condition that the hunt for Mladic continues.
“We support the European ambitions of Serbia,” said Olli Rehn, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner, after meeting Tadic. “I’m sure that Serbia will be able to make up for lost time and make progress toward the EU.”
Tadic’s visit coincided with a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
Several member nations, including Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Austria, have been pressing for a quick resumption of the stalled talks as a way of boosting the electoral chances of Serbia’s moderate, pro-European parties.
But this is opposed by nations such as Britain and Holland, which insist that Belgrade must show it is serious about hunting down Mladic before the process can resume.
“We know that co-operation with the UN war crimes court is a precondition for all these processes,” Tadic told reporters. “This will be the number-one priority of the new democratic government.”
