Brussels, 22/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 22 December in Stockholm, Boris Tadiæ, the Serbian president, officially submitted his country's accession candidacy to the acting president of the European Council and Sweden's prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt. Mr Tadiæ affirmed that Serbia was perfectly capable of creating “a positive surprise” and fulfilling the European Union's accession criteria by “2014”. During a press conference, Mr Tadiæ stated: “We can achieve this”. Ten years after the end of the war in the Balkans and ten years after its international isolation, Serbia is seeking to join Europe, explained the president of Serbia, “which signifies for us values and tolerance, peace and mutual respect” and a commitment in favour of “deep and lasting democracy”. Mr Tadiæ explained that his country had now turned the nationalist page of the 1990s and wanted to live in peace, prosperity and security with all its neighbours. He also asserted that he wanted all Balkan countries to one day become a member of the EU. Addressing the press, Mr Reinfeldt refused to speculate on an accession date for Serbia but did point out that “the road is long and demanding, requiring a lot of reforms”. Nonetheless, he did say that once Serbia was a member, it would make an “important contribution” to European integration and stabilisation in the Balkans. Olli Rehn, Commissioner for Enlargement, who was also in Stockholm, said that he hoped the Council would call on the Commission “in the next few months” to prepare its opinion on Serbia's candidacy. This decision (which requires the unanimous support of the EU27) will not be easy to obtain, admitted Mr Tadiæ, in a reference to the Netherlands, which has blocked implementation of the temporary stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) because it believes Belgrade is not doing everything within its power to arrest the last remaining war criminals at large, such as Radko Mladiæ and Goran Hadžiæ. The temporary SAA was unblocked at the beginning of December (EUROPE 10035) but its actual ratification is still suspended owing to the Dutch veto. On Tuesday, Mr Tadiæ affirmed that the Serbian authorities were doing “everything that is possible” to arrest the two fugitives. He also asserted that “if they are on Serbian soil, you can be sure that they will be captured”. Mr Tadiæ said that differences with regard to the status of Kosovo (Belgrade is refusing to recognise Kosovo's independence, just as are five other member states of the EU,) should not complicate the accession process because Belgrade intends to “separate” this policy question in order to continue the struggle at a legal and diplomatic level (notably, at the European Court of Justice). (H.B./transl.fl)