LUXEMBOURG: European Union ministers yesterday unanimously recommended that Serbia begin EU membership negotiations by the very latest in January 2014, as the former pariah state said it had done “everything to become a member of the European family”.
A formal decision to open EU-Serbia talks will be handed down on Friday by EU heads of state and government, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said.
He said the talks would begin in January “at the very latest” and perhaps “as early as October.”
This week’s EU summit would also formally adopt Friday a mandate to start talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo, he added.
The decision in Luxembourg by EU European Affairs ministers to open the EU door to both Serbia and Kosovo follows an historic agreement struck between the two on April 19 to normalise their ties. “This is a good day for both,” Fuele said. “They have exceeded our expectations in putting their relations on a new footing.”
Ahead of the EU announcement, President Tomislav Nikolic said in Belgrade: “Serbia did everything to become a member of the European family.
“I am convinced that... the European Union will open to Serbia an historic opportunity... to live in dignity within its European family,” he said in a public address.
Brussels had made it clear that both sides must implement the terms of the April agreement before moving forward on the road to eventual EU membership.
In March 2011, the EU launched talks to help the two normalise relations and solve everyday problems for their citizens, such as the mutual recognition of university degrees and property records.
After the April agreement, Serbia leaders had hoped to be given a start date for the talks in the autumn when EU leaders meet at the summit this week.
But German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said during talks with counterparts in Luxembourg that a 2014 date for Belgrade to begin EU accession talks would be more “reasonable”.
AFP
