Brussels, 16/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - The “only way” for the European Union to help pro-European forces in Belgrade and prevent a return of the Radical Party and Ultra-Nationalists to the Serbian government is to sign the stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) by the legislative elections of 11 May, a source close to President Boris Tadic told EUROPE on Tuesday 15 April. The SAA was initialled in November 2007 but at least two EU member states - the Netherlands and Belgium - refuse to sign unless Belgrade proves its full and complete cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) by arresting and transferring General Rako Mladic, accused of war crimes, to The Hague. The Slovenian EU Council Presidency is working unremittingly to find a solution that would make it possible to lift Dutch and Belgian reticence and to sign the SAA on the occasion of the next General Affairs/External Relations Council in Luxembourg on 28-29 April. If the 27 manage to gather the unanimity required for signature, Serbian President Boris Tadic will go to Luxembourg in person to sign the agreement that would open the way for a future request for EU membership by his country, the Serbian diplomat explained.
“70% of the Serb population supports the prospect of Serbia joining the EU but people would lose faith in their own European vision” if the EU continues to block any move forward towards European integration by refusing to sign the SAA, the Serbian diplomat explained. It is, moreover, a matter of credibility for President Tadic, who won the presidential elections in January thanks to his pro-European programme. “If we do not sign the agreement by 11 May, we shall lose our credibility”, the same source said. Events in Kosovo have not made matters better for pro-Europeans in Belgrade. Taking advantage of the anti-European atmosphere caused by the EU's position on Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence (all Serbs considered the sending of the EULEX mission was “illegal” - it should be left up to member states to decide whether to recognise the new state or not), the Serb Democratic Party (DSS) of the outgoing prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, and the Radical Party want to transform the legislative elections on 11 May into a “referendum on the question of whether Serbia should keep or lose Kosovo”, the Serb diplomat explained. This is why it will be very important to specify “very clearly”, at the time when the SAA is signed, that this agreement in no way affects the question of the status of Kosovo, the Serb diplomat said. Urging the EU to sign the SAA by the 11 May elections, President Tadic's side “in no way wishes to bring into question the conditionality” imposed by the EU with regard to total cooperation with the ICTY, he said, adding: “We simply call on the Netherlands and on Belgium to sign the SAA now and to give their national parliaments the right to block the agreement later, at the time of ratification, if they truly consider that we have not met all the criteria”. A similar approach was followed for Croatia, which signed the SAA in 2001 but which had to wait until October 2005 to open membership talks due to the lack of cooperation with the ICTY for arresting General Gotovina. “We want to be treated like Croatia”, he stressed. The government of the Netherlands, which is increasingly aware of the stakes of the Serb elections, is apparently exploring with the other parliamentary parties ways to “do something” to support the pro-Europeans by the 11 May ballot. (H.B.)