Serbia Becomes EU Candidate

"LandepNews"

Serbia Becomes EU Candidate

Serbia received on Wednesday the status of European Union candidate without a date fixed for the beginning of the formal negotiations toward admission until the relation of the country improves relations with the neighboring Kosovo. The announcement comes as bittersweet for Serbia, which was expecting the European Union executive commission to set a date for the beginning of the negotiations, especially after the hard efforts it had made to meet the requirements of the continental body.
Serbia was told it would begin the negotiation process with the EU as soon as it has concluded its cooperation with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which prosecuted the war criminals and the criminals against humanity from the Yugoslavian wars in the 1990s.
As soon as the Serbian security services have delivered Ratko Mladic, former general in the Bosnian Serb military, the Serbian officials believed that their bid for European membership was on the right track, only to find out they were half way there, and that in addition they had to resume negotiations with Kosovo, since European Union does not admit a country into the Union until it has settled all the border disputes. European Union cannot afford to have its own territories claimed by states outside the union, nor can it allow the member states to claim territories that do not pertain to the European Union.
Kosovo officials hailed the decision made by the European Union as one that dissuades the Serbian plan to demand European accession while keeping the claim on Kosovo’s territory.
Kosovan European Integration Minister said that it was only normal that there could not be two Serbias, one pro-Western, oriented toward Brussels, and another oriented against Kosovo.
Kosovo is a Serbian province that broke away from the state of Serbia in 1999, and entered the international mandate for a few years, after which, in 2008, on February 18, it proclaimed independence.
Its independence was recognized by the United States and by other 70 states in the world, but has not been recognized by five of the European Union member states: Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus and Spain, all of them countries with minorities that are demanding different levels of autonomy.
A very important detail is that the European Union did not set Serbia the goal of recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, but only to establish friendly relations with the breakaway province.
Serbia has promised never to accept the secession of the province it considers the cradle of the Serbian civilization, but has held regular talks, mediated by the European Union, with the authorities in Pristina.
The process seemed to have been endangered by the actions of the Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, whose ambition to have the Serbians living in the north of his country submitted to Kosovan rule led to very violent conflicts during the summer, as a result of which a Kosovan police officer lost his life and other people were harmed.
The EU Commission will make its recommendations in December, which gives Belgrade enough time to work things out with the people in Kosovo.
The European Commission also recommended that the EU commence talks with Montenegro, former republic of Yugoslavia. Unlike the Serbian case, the case of Montenegro seems very easy to solve, though the tiny nation had to wait for a year to see if it can start negotiations.
EU Commission admits that the small nation has been working hard for the last year, and that progresses can be seen in every respect.
The European Commission also acknowledges that the negotiations with Macedonia, which started six years ago, are still blocked by the refuse of Greece to recognize it, while the negotiations with Albania entered a stalemate as some of the issues are still not resolved.
While the Western Balkan people need the integration in order to strengthen their political democracy and their frail economies, European Commission also has to take into account the case of Iceland, and that of Turkey.
Turkey has made efforts to be admitted but the application has been denied on various occasions. EU Commission has advised the Turkish authorities to continue their progress and to settle the matter of Cypriot islands, divided between Greece and Turkey.

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