European Union ready for fresh start with new Serbian government

Calls for cooperation with Hague court

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The European Union announced on Monday that it is ready for deeper relations with Serbia if the new government there commits itself to cooperation with the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
      "The new government deserves a new start", said Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
      The foreign ministers also gave their support to the mediation efforts of former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who has been appointed by the UN to find a solution to the problem in Kosovo.
     
The EU suspended cooperation talks with Serbia last year because Serb officials failed to detain suspected war criminal Ratko Mladic.
      Carla del Ponte, the main prosecutor in The Hague, says that Mladic is within reach of Serb officials, and that the EU should refuse to continue cooperation talks because of Serbia’s reluctance to hand him over.
      The EU’s foreign affairs envoy Javier Solana expressed confidence that relations between Serbia and the EU will deepen in the near future.
      "We have sent the Serbs an important message of hope", Solana said.
     
The EU hopes that Serbia will take a more constructive attitude on the future of Kosovo, if the EU makes life easier for the Serbs by establishing more beneficial relations. The cooperation talks that were suspended last year are the first step before Serbia’s upcoming EU membership talks.
      James Lyon, a Serbia expert of the International Crisis Group, says that the EU should not resume talks with Serbia as long as Mladic is on the run.
      "Many Serbs already think that the EU has no principles, and that it constantly changes its opinions, and that it therefore does not have to be taken seriously", Lyon said in Belgrade.
      He also does not see any substance behind Serbia’s promises to work closer with The Hague.
      "There is no reason to believe that the upcoming government will do anything to catch Mladic. With its promises, the EU is simply trying to soften the Serbs with respect to Kosovo, and to make things more comfortable for itself", Lyon said.
     
The EU countries have disagreed on the future status of Kosovo. On Monday, the foreign ministers of the EU nevertheless committed themselves to supporting Martti Ahtisaari’s efforts to find a resolution to the situation.
      According to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany, the current holder of the EU Presidency, "there is no doubt" that the EU’s support for Ahtisaari is total.
     
The foreign ministers came out in favour of deciding on the future status of Kosovo in the UN Security Council. Steinmeier says that this is the only sensible alternative; in his view, nothing can come from negotiations between the Serbs and the Kosovo Albanians.
      Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja said that the future of Kosovo could also be decided upon outside the Security Council. He noted that one difficulty is that Russia, one of the permanent member states of the Security Council, has powerfully supported Serbia, and is against the proposed independent status for Kosovo.
      "A solution should be based on a process in the Security Council, but it is not a specific condition [of the EU]. This kind of a solution exists, but it would not be as good", Tuomioja said.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Serb newspapers lanch onslaught against Martti Ahtisaari (9.2.2007)

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