3 EU states against Serbian candidature

Belgrade, June 18. 2010. (Serbia Today) - 24 EU member-states support the forwarding of Serbia’s candidate application the European Commission, writes Belgrade daily “Vecernje novosti”. As Večernje Novosti reported, Belgium, Holland and Germany were against it. At the EU Ministerial meeting held on June 14, discussions regarding the issue were longer than expected, and as a result, the working lunch between the Ministers and Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz also lasted longer, says the article. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, who is sees as the main proponent of the hard-line position, did not back down at the meeting, while Italy's Franco Frattini was “as usual” on Serbia’s side, writes the daily. The EU meeting in Luxembourg decided that the Stabilization and Association agreement between Belgrade and Brussels, signed two years ago and suspended, can be ratified in EU member-states' parliaments, but a decision on Serbia's EU candidate status bid was postponed. “Serbia needs to be even closer to the EU, in every aspect. The Italian proposal is that Serbia needs to receive the ratification and have its (candidate) application forwarded to the Commission. We will continue to try to convince all those who are indecisive about moving ahead with this,” Frattini was quoted as saying. He added that the candidacy question should be discussed at the next EU ministerial meeting in July, and also said he expected the SAA ratification process to be swift, even though it has been known to last over a period of several years. “I believe that all the countries of the EU will ratify the SAA with Serbia by the end of the year,” Frattini said. Several countries announced that their parliaments would be urged to put the issue on their agendas immediately, while Holland will continue to insist on further extraditions of fugitive war criminals to the Hague Tribunal before doing so.