Main focus of Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Serbia wants to join the EU

Serbia has announced it will apply for EU membership today, Tuesday. The European press welcomes the step by President Boris Tadić and the positive development of the Balkan state, but points out that not all accession criteria have been met yet.

Dagens Nyheter - Sweden

Serbia and all other Balkan countries could offer advantages as new EU members, but they still have a lot of work to do, writes the daily Dagens Nyheter: "The Balkan countries are European and thus a natural part of the Community. If they are not allowed to join the EU there is the danger that their sense of isolation will grow. The rest of Europe can gain a lot from accelerating the process. It would be easier to track down drug dealers if the western Balkans could take part in the pan-European battle against crime. … At the same time the next expansion is a new and complicated project. Taking in additional poor member countries would put the Community and the solidarity within the Union to the test. Some of the countries in question are also weak states. Before the EU can accept them as members they must be made stronger. … Tough demands must be made of Serbian and all the other potential members. But President Tadić's visit [to the EU Council presidency in Stockholm] is a welcome move and confirms the EU's continued strong appeal." (22/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Europe, » Serbia

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

It is still too early for Serbia to join the EU, writes the left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung: "The stability and association pact - that is the first step to accession negotiations - has not been implemented by the EU because Serbia has still not arrested the presumed war criminal Ratko Mladic. With it's application Serbia's government is taking the second step before the first. The scandalous thing is that a majority of Serbs still reject the idea of handing Mladic over to the UN Tribunal, and that parliament has never condemned the genocide in Srebrenica. Nevertheless Italy, Spain and Sweden have encouraged Belgrade - against the advice of other EU members - to file the application. The EU will have to speak with a single voice if it wants to bring peace to the region. That is the lesson we learn from history, old and new." (22/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Serbia
All available articles from » Enver Robelli

Finance - Slovenia

The fact that Serbia has been able to apply for EU membership at all is among other things due to the current positive report delivered by Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, writes Borut Šuklje, former Slovenian ambassador to Serbia in the daily Finance: "Only five years ago the assessment made by the then chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte was entirely different. The disparity between the two reports highlights the different styles of government and also the different lifestyles. It demonstrates the difference between a closed and comparatively isolated Balkan state and the revival of a country with open borders and the prospect of EU membership. The reason for all this is Serbia's success in stabilising its government. … The countries of the west Balkans also need a political leader. Serbia's president Boris Tadić deserves most of the credit for the difference in the reports from The Hague. He was capable of taking the necessary decisions – including the decision to apply for Serbia's full membership in the EU." (22/12/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Serbia
All available articles from » Borut Šuklje

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