Posts Tagged ‘Serbia’

February10

Too Early for Serbia’s EU Candidacy

By: Tim Neale

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, has warned Serbia against applying for EU membership before the EU-Serbia Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) is unfrozen.

The SAA was frozen last year until Serbia demonstrated full co-operation with International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

On a visit to Brussels on Feb. 9, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia had three key goals in 2009:

  • The unblocking of the SAA
  • Gaining candidate status for EU membership
  • The removal of the need for Serbs to hold visas when travelling in the EU

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September19

Dutch Veto EU – Serbia Trade Accord

By: Tim Neale

EU member states again fail to reach consensus on external relations.

A meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Sep. 15, failed to agree to unblock a trade accord with Serbia. Twenty-five EU member states and the EU Commission were in favor of immediately implementing the deal. However, The Netherlands vetoed the accord. Insisting Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief, be first delivered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

Mladic and Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic are charged with, among other things, genocide relating to events in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. This is a sensitive issue for The Dutch. Dutch UN peacekeepers that were present in the town at the time. Karadzic was arrested in the Serbian capital Belgrade in July but Mladic is still at large.

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July23

'Europe's Bin Laden' Arrested

By: Tim Neale

Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade. The former Bosnian Serb leader has been indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Karadzic has been on the run for nearly 13 years, along with the Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic. They face charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws of war, relating to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina between April 1992 and July 1995.

Serge Brammertz, head prosecutor for the ICTY, said, “This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade.”

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July15

New Serbian Government Looks to the EU

By: Tim Neale

Serbia’s parliament has approved a new government. The alliance ‘For a European Serbia’ (ZEC), led by President Boris Tadic’s Democratic Party (DS) has joined forces with a small group of parties led by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) of late President Slobodan Milosevic. Mirko Cvetkovic will be the new Prime Minister.

In a daylong debate preceding the approval vote, Mr Cvetkovic said, “The government’s main objective is for Serbia to gain European Union (EU) candidate country status by the end of this year or by the beginning of next year.”

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