SERBIA’S BID to join the EU took a small step forward as foreign ministers moved to ask the European Commission to issue a formal opinion on its membership application.
Although the move recognises Belgrade’s decision to enter talks on the status of its former province Kosovo, the EU ministers warned that any further steps on the road to membership would depend on Belgrade’s full co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague.
The invitation to the commission came as the Netherlands withdrew its objections to this development on the grounds that Serbia was not co-operating sufficiently with the tribunal. In a compromise statement with the Dutch government yesterday, the ministers reiterated demands for Serbia to help with the arrest of alleged war criminals Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic.
Ireland had moved in recent days to back Dutch demands for stronger conditionality to be built into the EU statement. “A reasonable enough compromise has been reached there,” said Minister of State for Europe Dick Roche.
Formal accession talks in which Serbia will be obliged to adopt European law cannot begin without a positive opinion on its application from the commission.
However, Belgium’s rotating EU presidency emphasised that the process was conditional on Serbian co-operation. “That does not mean that everything is smooth sailing without any work to be done,” said foreign minister Steven Vanackere.
Meanwhile, the European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has said she will initiate “a period of reflection to take soundings with Cuba on the way forward” for relations between Cuba and the EU. It is understood that she will report to the December summit of EU leaders on the exploration of “simplified bilateral relations” with Cuba in the light of its release of some political prisoners. This follows a push from Spain. “Ireland very strongly supports them on that. We have always been on Spain’s side in that it has to be said we were in a minority of two,” Mr Roche said.
