Compromise Deal: EU to Sign Pre-Membership Pact with Serbia (original) (raw)
The European Union is to sign a pre-membership pact with Serbia on Tuesday after the bloc's foreign ministers agreed on certain conditions at a meeting in Luxembourg.
"The ministers agreed that the EU will sign the SAA (Stabilization and Association Agreement) with Serbia," spokesman for the current EU president Slovenia said on Tuesday.
The EU is seeking closer ties with Belgrade after the Netherlands and Belgium slightly softened their stance on the issue. Both countries, however, still insist that Serbia must convince the EU that it is fully cooperating in the hunt for war crime suspects before they ratify the deal.
They say they will sign the SAA as long as Belgrade does not benefit from any trade or other benefits until it proves it is serious about tracking the men wanted for atrocities committed during the 1990s wars that marked the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
The Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic confirmed that Belgrade will sign the pact despite the strict conditions set by the Netherlands and Belgium. He told reporters that the agreement was nonetheless a "great political step." The SAA is the first step toward eventual membership of the EU.
Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic is to fly to Luxembourg to sign the accord with EU officials later on Tuesday. It is hoped that the deal will bolster pro-European parties ahead ofSerb elections on May 11 . They are facing ultra-nationalist radicals who hope to benefit from Serb dismay at the Western-backed secession ofKosovo in February.
Outgoing Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Monday that the signing of the pact would imply recogniton of the "illegal state" of Kosovo.
smd/ap/reuters