Brussels, 22/10/2010 (Agence Europe) -There is a good chance that the General Affairs Council on Monday 25 October 2010 will invite the European Commission to prepare an opinion on Serbia's application to join the EU. This decision requires unanimous agreement from all the member states and is currently being blocked by the Netherlands because Serbia is not yet cooperating fully with the International Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) when it comes to arresting the last two wanted fugitives, Radko Mladic and Goran Hadzic. The 26 other member states believe that the time has come to send Serbia a positive signal and “reward” Belgrade for its constructive attitude in drafting the resolution on Kosovo that was voted through at the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 2010.
Compromise. In the light of the blockage, the new Dutch government under Prime Minister Mark Rutte has opened up a possibility by suggesting a compromise to the Belgian presidency that might be acceptable to the other 26 delegations. Under the compromise, a copy of which has been seen by EUROPE, the Council on Monday will unanimously ask the Commission to prepare its opinion on Serbia's candidacy, but at the same time the EU27 would decide that “at each stage of Serbia's path towards EU accession, no further steps will be taken unless the Council unanimously decides that full cooperation of ICTY exists or continues to exist”. In its decision on the appropriate level of cooperation, the Council “will closely monitor the progress reports by the ICTY prosecutor”, Serge Brammertz. This latter section is causing hesitation among some member states, like Sweden, which do not want the ICTY to have the final say in a sense on whether Serbia's EU accession process may continue. A well-informed Belgian presidency source said on Friday: “We will try to reach consensus on this text. It will be difficult because we don't expect easily that there is a direct conditionality with ICTY”.
The draft compromise has the support of the new Dutch parliament, that passed a resolution on 13 October 2010 calling on the government to obtain guarantees that any new stage in Serbia's accession process should be subject to strict terms and conditions, namely that the ICTY must confirm the existence of full cooperation with the court by Belgrade. (H.B. trans fl)