Karadžić is only the beginning

The arrest of the purported war criminal Radovan Karadžić was, according to the conservative daily Lidové noviny, only the first hurdle on Serbia's road to the EU. A bigger problem is the recognition of Kosovo: "The question is what the Serbs are prepared to sacrifice [for the sake of EU membership]. ... Fears that Karadžić's arrest would cause unrest turned out to be unfounded. Not more than a couple of hundred people gathered in Belgrade. The greater hurdle - Kosovo - remains. How can you become a member of the EU if you refuse to recognise a state that the majority of the EU states have recognised? Almost impossible. And for many Serbs recognising Kosovo's independence will be much harder [to swallow] than the arrest of Karadžić. ... [Serbia is not just hearing] approving words from the EU but also calls to finish properly the task it has begun."

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