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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia will not give in to blackmail on Kosovo in order to join EU

Belgrade, 21 July 2008

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Minister of Science and Technological Development Bozidar Djelic said today that Serbia will never give in to any kind of blackmail concerning Kosovo in order to enter the EU and that it will never trade-in its southern province.

In an interview to today’s edition of Politika daily, Djelic said that if someone puts that choice before us, Serbia will choose Kosovo.

The Serbian government’s official website gives excerpts from the interview.

You said that we will become an EU candidate by the end of this year, while the Serbian Prime Minister said that that will happen until April 2009:

– No. The Prime Minister said that we will do everything to become an EU candidate by the end of this year and if we don’t succeed, that will be postponed to a shorter period.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that he hopes that that might happen by November 2009. Why are you more optimistic than them?

– Because it is my duty to speed up European integration. We have set some goals, but their fulfilment depends on a positive report from the Hague tribunal Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, and the fact that our parliament doesn’t vote for laws, but discusses mutually unrelated topics. Our capacity, country development and the political will of the key actors in Europe show that it is possible for us to achieve EU candidate status by the end of the French EU presidency, but there are conditions to be fulfilled and we are doing everything to fulfil them.

Citizens might be confused when you say one thing and Rehn the other:

-It seems that some kind of ill will exists in our country that we always try to prove that they are constantly setting us additional conditions and prolonging the deadlines.

Why do you interpret that as ill will? – I see that people describe as failure if something happens one week before or later. Let’s be objective. Our country doesn’t lag behind eight months, but 15 years. That is why I cannot understand those who criticise people like me, who give our best to create conditions for the rapid progress of our country. I can say that it is very ambitious, but feasible as well, for Serbia to become an EU candidate by the end of the year. However, if that happens a few weeks later, I wouldn’t see that as a failure, rather as a great success.

What really matters is that Serbia doesn’t miss the crucial 2012 deadline. By that time, we must be fully qualified to enter the EU because experience has shown that one to two years pass between the clear qualifications and actual entry into the EU. If we are not ready by that time, we will not be able to participate in the EU budget which is made every six-years and which would bring us around €2 billion per year. At this moment, we have €1 billion for a five-year period. At the same time, the year 2014 is election year. Although Europe has obvious problems because of the Irish "no", I am sure they will not change the deadlines set in the Lisbon Agreement. That means that a new form of voting and a new EU order will be fully effective in 2014. That means that we can enter the EU in 2014 if we are ready for that in 2012.

Can Serbia become an EU candidate if there is no more enlargement due to the Irish “no”?

– Yes. Maybe due to the Irish objection, Europe is less willing to make that step, but everyone is aware that Serbia is not aiming to become an EU member in 2010. After receiving candidate status, nine months have to pass before formal negotiations on EU membership can begin and they may be finished after three years, at the end of 2012.

Will anyone talk with us about candidacy if there are no conditions for enlargement?

– French president Nicolas Sarkozy said the following on behalf of the EU: "There will be no enlargement until the Lisbon issue is resolved". He didn’t say there will be no candidates for enlargement, which are two different things.

Therefore, it is possible for Serbia to become a candidate for enlargement although enlargement is out of question now?

– Yes.

Do you think they will negotiate with our country until they resolve that issue?

- You saw yourself that Olli Rehn and Pierre Mirel, who is in charge of the West Balkans in the EU, see us as a candidate country by the end of their mandates in 2009 at the latest, although their functions obliges them to be careful with their statements. They, as European Commission employees, could not say something like that if the EU’s political decision were that there will be no candidates anymore after the Irish "no". The risk of not acquiring candidate status lies much more in our relations with the EU, first of all with the Hague tribunal. Without a positive report from Chief Prosecutor Brammertz we cannot count on implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), let alone on obtaining candidate status. At least several months of implementation of SAA must pass before we can obtain the status. Brammertz will visit our country on July 23 and I hope that all the elements obtained at that meeting will be sufficient for a decision on the beginning of implementation of SAA at the meeting of the EU Council of Ministers that will be held on September 15 and 16.

Are you aware of the fact that those people in Serbia who show an amount of pessimism towards the EU may not be against joining it, but that they got tired of waiting, among other things, on the abolition of visas?

- I understand when people say that now it is high time that Europe opened towards us. I hope that the recommendation for the abolition of visas will be made at the summit of the EU heads of states on December 12. Is that easy? No. Is the plan on abolishment of visas by the end of the year extremely ambitious? Yes. However, I believe that we will succeed owing to this very aggressive attitude towards the EU and huge efforts we made to make this possible. If we want visas to be abolished, then we have to insist on the issuing of biometric passports, we must adopt as soon as possible the laws on border management, foreigners and protection of personal data.

Do you understand citizens’ impatience as visas are not being abolished despite the fact that that was announced long time ago? – I live for that day when our European partners will decide that Serbia’s citizens can travel to Europe without visas. That will be a big day for all of us. We are looking forward to it impatiently.

German Minister for Europe Gunter Gloser said that if Serbia wants to enter the EU it must recognise Kosovo, and those other West Balkan countries will also have to do so. Does that mean that new conditions are awaiting Serbia?

– In Serbia people are constantly and in an almost paranoid manner looking for any statement from anyone, sometimes taken out of context, which might devaluate thousands of official statements from EU top leaders who have said that Serbia will not be asked to recognise Kosovo in exchange for European integration. Serbia’s policy is crystal clear. Serbia will never agree to any form of blackmail on Kosovo for the sake of entering the EU. Serbia will never trade-in its southern province. In case that someone, God forbid, puts that choice before us , we will choose Kosovo. That is very clear.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the countries that want to join the EU must first solve its internal problems, first of all territorial ones.

– I didn’t read that statement and therefore I cannot comment on it. But our European partners know our positions and will make decisions in line with that. No one has ever given us such a condition, to recognise the so-called independent Kosovo in order to go ahead on our path to Europe.

Do you feel the need when you meet with Merkel or Gloser, to ask them what they meant by such statements?

– In all our diplomatic contacts, we all make it clear that no one in Serbia will recognise an independent Kosovo and that any policy of pressure on that issue would yield no results. Serbia’s policy is clear. Europe’s policy is clear. Everything else is speculation.

In diplomatic circles in Brussels it can be heard that Serbia will not be asked to recognise Kosovo in exchange for EU membership, provided that Serbia doesn’t block Kosovo’s integration into international institutions. Is such an attitude acceptable for Serbia?

According to the Serbian Constitution, all civil servants of Serbia are obliged to defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our partners from Europe and the rest of the world know that. That is why we will do our level best to prevent the participation of the so-called independent Kosovo in any forums. Dialogue does not mean that you have to agree with your collocutor on everything. Sometimes you disagree on some elements, but you still find a global common interest. Unfortunately, some countries have recognised the so-called Kosovo, but they also want Serbia to enter the EU and that is why they will not ask her to do something which is unacceptable for her. That’s not a sympathy issue, but of well understood common interests.

According to you, will the moment come when we and they will have to clear that matter up and when will that be?

– Things are already clear. The European Union has no jurisdiction to recognise states. Seven EU member states didn’t recognise the so-called independent Kosovo. There is no unified policy on that issue. That is why the EU cannot formulate a policy that would be directly in opposition to our interests. Serbia’s policy is very clear – both Kosovo and Europe. That is the policy proposed by Serbian President Boris Tadic, which won democratic support at this year’s presidential, parliamentary, provincial, Belgrade and other elections.