EU future could answer Serbia’s problems

EU future could answer Serbia’s problems

“I think [completing the SAA talks in] July is a bit of an optimistic assessment but I hope we can initial them shortly thereafter. And then of course, the next step would be, once they are completely finalized, the process of initialing by the Commission, and then the signing and later on of ratification, which is a formal process involving member states, Serbia and the European Parliament,” Lloveras told B92.

He said the influence of a clear prospect of EU integration seen in the renewed SAA talks will be evident in continued foreign investment flow into Serbia.

Ambassador Lloveras rated regional economic initiatives such as CEFTA as “the first natural expansion of the Serbian market”, and added the European Commission saw this as extremely important.

“Obviously, Serbia is a relatively small country, and when investors look for markets, they look for large markets, and so to the extent that one can consider not only Serbia, but the larger CEFTA market, it represents a multiplier effect,” he explained.

Lloveras reiterated the EU’s position that Serbia’s European integration and the Kosovo status settlement were two separate processes.

“We see this process, the Kosovo process, as a separate one from the EU integration.  This has been explicitly mentioned both by the European Commission and High Representative Solana. Obviously, we would expect a solution for Kosovo without artificial delay, and we feel the best solution is one found in the context of the UN, which is what we hope for,” he said. 

“I feel however that there is an enormous amount of political energy that is consumed by the Kosovo process and if some of this energy were devoted to European integration I think it would have a real impact in speeding it up,” Lloveras said.

Lloveras also said the strong showing of the nationalist parties in the last elections did not necessarily bring into question the Serbian citizen’s devotion to their European future.

“I think the two are not completely related.  I think there is a phenomenon that we see in countries in terms of transition. Nationalist parties, particularly the most radical, capitalize on discontent.”

“It is clear that in any transition, there are what we call ‘transition losers’, so there is an easy trend to exploit, but at the same time, you have to propose solutions,” Lloveras stressed.

“What is clear is that the impact of globalization on transition is there anyway, and European integration will not make it worse. On the contrary, it will find solutions to solve the problems. Capitalization on discontent is an easy game to play but it does not solve any of the citizens’ problems,” the head of the European Commission Delegation to Serbia told B92.

The full transcript of the interview is available here.