Zobel: Serbia back on EU track

Zobel: Serbia back on EU track

Presenting results of Germany’s six-month presidency of the European Union that expires at the end of June, Zobel said Friday in Belgrade that Serbia, with the new government in office and progress made in the cooperation with the Hague, had returned to its EU path.

Zobel reiterated EU’s stance that Serbia’s European integration and Kosovo’s status settlement were two separate processes.

He reminded that the EU member states recently confirmed their position that the Kosovo solution should be sought only within UN Special Kosovo Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan.

Commenting on attempts in the UN Security Council to reach a compromise over a new Kosovo draft, Zobel said that to be oriented towards Ahtisaari’s plan was “the best compromise.”

The German Ambassador cited the new European Union treaty outlined by European leaders last weekend as the key achievement of the German EU presidency term.

This was Zobel’s first press conference following a diplomatic note Belgrade dispatched to Berlin to protest his statements given in April, when he said that should the solution for Kosovo fall short of independence, “problems in Vojvodina and Sandžak might flare up”.

“I am not sorry, but maybe others should be,“ Zobel said Friday when asked whether he regretted what had happened in April.

“We are now witnessing a campaign led against another ambassador in Belgrade, and I believe it is not a good way of expressing gratitude to friends who are trying to open doors in Europe for Serbia and its interests,” Zobel remarked.

“However, it might be a part of the Balkans’ rough charm,” he said.

Asked whether he believed that he, along with U.S. Ambassador Michael Polt, contributed to negative reactions they received, Zobel said that “certain truths may have been unpleasant.”