Brussels, 22/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 22 February, the EU called upon Serbia to do more to protect foreign embassies in Belgrade, where some extremely serious incidents took place the day before, on the sidelines of a major demonstration against the independence of Kosovo (the embassy of the United States was burnt, killing one person). The High Representative of the EU for CFSP, Javier Solana, said that if the Serbian authorities did not do enough to prevent embassies from being attacked, EU/Serbia relations could suffer. “The embassies must be protected, and this is an obligation of the host country”, said Mr Solana. “Things will have to calm down before we can return to a climate allowing contact to resume and the Stabilisation and Association Agreement to be signed”, he warned.
Commissioner Olli Rehn (Enlargement) also strongly condemned the events in Belgrade. The Serbian people have the right to voice their opinion on recent developments in Kosovo, but recourse to violence is “unacceptable”, said the Commissioner. He called on the Serbian authorities to do all in their power to restore order and to “avoid making statements which may make the situation worse”. However, the Commissioner did not go so far as to threaten Serbia with negative consequences for its process of European integration, as Mr Solana had done. “As far as we are concerned, the question of Kosovo is not related to the future accession of Serbia to the EU”, Mr Rehn's spokesperson announced on Friday. She added that at this stage, the signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is “still not on the agenda”. (H.B.)