Brussels, 11/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Belgian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers has put Serbia on the agenda of the General Affairs Council of 25 October. In so doing, it hopes that agreement can be reached on asking the European Commission to prepare an opinion on Serbia's application for accession, which, just like every other accession process decision, has to be taken unanimously. At this stage, however, everything points to the Netherlands' maintaining its well known reservations over Belgrade's failure to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Serbia's application, submitted in December 2009, will, in all likelihood remain deadlocked in a “26 v 1” situation. All the other member states are of the view that it is time to reward Serbia for the pro-European reforms carried out and, above all, for its constructive attitude during the drafting and adoption at the UN of the resolution on dialogue with Kosovo (see EUROPE 10211).
Belgian Foreign Steven Vanackere, who currently chairs the General Affairs Council, is aware of the Dutch opposition which threatens to wreck ministerial discussions on 25 October, “however, for the foreseeable future, he intends to keep this item on the Council agenda,” Belgian diplomatic sources said on Monday 11 October, noting, too, the strong call from the other member states for progress on Serbia's application.
The Netherlands is calling for Serbia to cooperate fully with the ICTY and for the arrest of war criminals Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic. Failing a last minute surprise on these two issues, the new Dutch government - which is currently in the final stages of being formed - is unlikely to give the go-ahead for Serbia's application process to move to the next stage, especially as the recent comments by ICTY Prosecutor Serge Brammertz on the cooperation being shown by the Serbian authorities were not free from criticism. In July, following long months of impasse because of the Netherlands, the Council decided unanimously to begin ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia signed in 2008. In December 2009, the EU unfroze the interim SAA, allowing the trade provisions of the SAA to be implemented while waiting for ratification. These two decisions came after encouraging reports from Brammertz on cooperation with the ICTY. (H.B./transl.rt)