Serbia to apply for EU membership this year

[Derbedeu]

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Serbia plans to formally apply for EU membership by the end of this year and has pledged it will to apprehend war criminals as soon as possible, Belgrade's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told European lawmakers on Thursday (5 November).
"The basic groundwork is there for Serbia to submit its official application for EU membership. We hope to do so by the end of this year," Mr Jeremic said in front of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee.
The sticking point in EU-Serbian relations is the hand-over of war criminals such as former Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic, who still remain at large. The former general is accused of having ordered the Srebrenica massacre, in which some 8,000 Bosniaks were killed. A government official said earlier this week that a majority of Serbs are still opposed to his extradition to the Hague.
Mr Jeremic reassured MEPs that his government was "searching every square millimetre of [its] national territory" for the fugitive. "If we knew where he was, he would not be at liberty, I can guarantee that," he said.
The UN's chief prosecutor for former Yugoslavia, Serge Brammertz, was in Serbia on Thursday to review the government's efforts in catching the indictees. His assessment, due in December, will play a major role in whether member states accept Belgrade's EU application.
The Netherlands remains the strongest opponent of letting Serbia getting closer to the EU so long as Mr Mladic remains at large. The Srebrenica massacre has had a painful impact on Dutch public opinion, as it was a Dutch UN battalion that pulled out of the enclave in July 1995 shortly before the atrocities took place.
EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn praised Serbia's "considerable progress over the past 12 months" and suggested the government has done enough to alleviate Dutch concerns.
"Serbia has already for some time been cooperating very well" with the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, he said at a joint press conference with the Serbian official.
The pro-European government in Belgrade last year handed over another Serb indictee of the Hague tribunal, Radovan Karadzic, whose trial started this week.
Referring to the proposed EU membership application, the commissioner said only that he "respected the sovereignty of the Serbian Republic as regards such important decisions."
Mr Rehn joined MEPs in calling for Serbia to adopt a "more constructive attitude towards Kosovo", its former province dominated by ethnic Albanians, and recognised as independent by a majority of EU states.
This issue is likely to outlive the current government, however. Speaking earlier in the European Parliament, Mr Jeremic said that his country will "never, under any circumstances, implicitly or explicitly recognise the unilateral declaration of independence - by the ethnic-Albanian authorities of our southern province of Kosovo."
When asked by MEPs to appeal to Serbs living in Kosovo to take part in next week's local elections, Mr Jeremic said it was "impossible" for Belgrade to endorse the elections, which were "in breach" of the Serbian constitution.

http://euobserver.com/9/28948

[Switek]

Good for Serbia and good for region and Europe...

[Bacilluspolymyxa]

Originally Posted by Switek

Good for Serbia and good for region and Europe...

I cannot see any possible benefits to the rest of the EU if Serbia joins they have little to give and everything to gain.

[Connaught Ranger]

and has pledged it will to apprehend war criminals as soon as possible,

We have been listing to that excuse for years.

[muttbutt]

Originally Posted by Bacilluspolymyxa

I cannot see any possible benefits to the rest of the EU if Serbia joins they have little to give and everything to gain.

Do we really want a Russian fox in the henhouse?...no offence to the Serbs, nice folk I'm sure, but they seem to be in Ivans camp.

[Switek]

Originally Posted by Bacilluspolymyxa

I cannot see any possible benefits to the rest of the EU if Serbia joins they have little to give and everything to gain.

In whole Serbia Live as many people as in London an its neighborhood. It's not such a big challenge for Europe. The most important is that Europe must benefit Serbs after amputation of one province - Kosovo (what was European decision). Before Serbia enter EU it must solve relations with its neighbors what can prevent region for another slaughter. Other thing is that Serbia will be much more linked with the West.

[Switek]

Originally Posted by muttbutt

Do we really want a Russian fox in the henhouse?...no offence to the Serbs, nice folk I'm sure, but they seem to be in Ivans camp.

Originally Posted by 2495

Same could be said for Turkey and Islams Trojan horse into the belly of Europe. A potential terrorists haven / gateway.

Jesus, ten, fifteen years ago we Poles were treated similarly by Westerners ...

[Bacilluspolymyxa]

Originally Posted by muttbutt

Do we really want a Russian fox in the henhouse?...no offence to the Serbs, nice folk I'm sure, but they seem to be in Ivans camp.

I don't dislike Serbs and I don't dislike the Russians either but I feel that the Serbs would not be fully on side most of the time and although their economic potential is great they have something of a rep for graft and as it stands we have enough EU states with the same problem. I would rather see Israel and the occupied territories as EU members.

[Bacilluspolymyxa]

Originally Posted by 2495

Same could be said for Turkey and Islams Trojan horse into the belly of Europe. A potential terrorists haven / gateway.

There is more chance of Bradford spawning an Islamic jihad than Istanbul.

[Connaught Ranger]

Originally Posted by 2495

Same could be said for Turkey and Islams Trojan horse into the belly of Europe. A potential terrorists haven / gateway.

W T F?

[Ulytau]

^^^^^^^^^^

Wise,great,cool with tent leader Ghaddafi said that one of his interview bro

[Redbeard]

If EU intends to find another term that must be met prior to joining in forcing the Kosovo issue, than it's a moot point, and we've been swallowing too much "sh*t" (just and unjust) all these years for nothing. If that is the case, then EU acted like a true "whore". We were being told that EU will guarantee territorial integrity (too late for Kosovo, but as much as we blame US and EU for it, we also blame ourselves or better yet the goverment for not getting us where we are now faster), so if EU doesn't want to bother with solving such problems, what guarantee do we have that any further seccesion will not be successful, even as an EU member? Do I need to remind people of Greece and Cyprus?

[Connaught Ranger]

Originally Posted by Redbeard

If EU intends to find another term that must be met prior to joining in forcing the Kosovo issue, than it's a moot point, and we've been swallowing too much "sh*t" (just and unjust) all these years for nothing. If that is the case, then EU acted like a true "whore". We were being told that EU will guarantee territorial integrity (too late for Kosovo, but as much as we blame US and EU for it, we also blame ourselves or better yet the goverment for not getting us where we are now faster), so if EU doesn't want to bother with solving such problems, what guarantee do we have that any further seccesion will not be successful, even as an EU member? Do I need to remind people of Greece and Cyprus?

Yeah all the fault of the E.U.!

[Goggen]

A lot of people seems opposed to eastern bloc countries joining on the basis that they don't contribute nearly enough. But the EU isn't some kind of rich man's club and a more developed eastern europe enables the potential for economic growth and stability in the long run, yet everyone seems afflicted by myopia . A bit of wealth distribution is a good thing

[Bacilluspolymyxa]

Originally Posted by Goggen

A lot of people seems opposed to eastern bloc countries joining on the basis that they don't contribute nearly enough. But the EU isn't some kind of rich man's club and a more developed eastern europe enables the potential for economic growth and stability in the long run, yet everyone seems afflicted by myopia . A bit of wealth distribution is a good thing

Yeah but most of have nothing left to give and the most recent former Eastern Bloc entrants still need a wad of cash and standardization effort to bring them up to speed.