Brussels, 03/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Budapest is to re-examine its support for Serbia's application to join the EU, further to the adoption by the Serbian parliament of a law on returning goods confiscated by the Communist regime after the Second World War, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI. As of Monday 3 October, the Hungarian Representation to the European Union had not yet confirmed this information. According to Hungary, this law is, it argues, discriminatory against the Hungarian community in Voïvodine, which represents more than 350,000 individuals. “No one is more committed to the European integration of Serbia than us, but accession is not realistic with laws which contain a collective privation of civic rights”, said the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, on a visit to Subotica, in the province of Voïvodine, on Sunday 2 October. He said that his country would “re-examine Hungary's support for Serbia's application to join the EU” unless the Serbian parliament changes the unacceptable elements of its law, “to make it possible for the Hungarian community to be compensated too”. He added that Hungary rejects the principle of collective culpability, which runs counter to EU standards, human rights and the interests of the Hungarian community. Semjén said that he was “convinced” that Serbia would review its text and that Budapest would not have to do change stance.
For its part, the Commission stressed that the adoption of this law “will help to improve the legal clarity on ownership rights”, which are a matter for the competence of the member states. It also reiterated the key principles of non-discrimination and equality before the law. “We will be closely following the implementation of the new law”, said the spokesperson to the Commissioner for Enlargement. (CG/transl.fl)