Talks in Belgrade focus on Serbia’s EU prospects

February 1, 2012 | Filed under: Geopolitics

Foreign Minister Stavros Dimas held talks with his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic while in Belgrade on Tuesday, with the focus mainly on Serbia’s European accession prospects.

Dimas was in Belgrade to attend an informal ministerial meeting of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP).

The talks were mainly concerned with next month’s planned European Union summit, which will examine Serbia’s application to become an EU candidate country.

Dimas reiterated Greece’s support for Serbia’s accession bid; stressing that Europe would be incomplete without Serbia. A major stumbling block for Serbia’s EU integration is the unsolved Kosovo question.

Jeremic briefed the Greek minister on developments in dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, especially the effort underway for a solution concerning Kosovo’s representation in regional organisations.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, a move not recognised by Belgrade as well as a handful of EU member states including Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Romania.

Under the current Serbian government led by Boris Tadic, Serbia has made progress in a number of areas. In June 2011 Serbian security forces arrested and swiftly extradited Ratko Mladic who was wanted by The Hague for war crimes during the Bosnian war.

At the time of Mladic’s extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), it was widely seen as a breakthrough for Serbia’s EU ambitions following the arrest and extradition of suspected war criminal Radovan Karadžić in July 2008. Chief ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz commented after Mladic’s arrest that Belgrade ‘had fulfilled one of its main international obligations’ which certainly added weight to Serbia’s EU aspirations. However the unanswered question of Kosovo remains a significant obstacle for Serbia’s EU aspiration.

The Serbian foreign minister underlined that his country will not accept any solution that overlooks UNSCR 1244 and stressed that Belgrade will only agree to Kosovo’s representation in regional organisations within this framework.

Dimas had earlier paid a visit to Serb Patriarch Irineos and briefed him on the effort to overcome the economic crisis in Greece, expressing hope that the country would soon return to growth.

Responding to the Patriarch’s questions about the progress of talks on the name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom), Dimas noted that the government in Skopje was displaying intransigency, chiefly in order to strengthen its position domestically and stay in power.

The minister stressed that Greece desires a solution to the name dispute arising through mutual consensus on the name issue, in the framework of UN processes, and to restore good neighbour relations.

Dimas also visited Belgrade’s Nebojsa Tower, now a museum that was partly refurbished with the assistance of Greek funds and includes a gallery dedicated to Greek independence struggle hero Rigas Ferraios, who was killed in the tower by Ottoman soldiers.