"EU candidate decision could be postponed"

Certain EU member states want the decision on Serbia’s EU candidate status to be delayed until further notice, daily Vecernje Novosti writes. According to the daily, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule has been lobbying in order to ensure that the Council of Ministers will vote on it on December 9. "EU candidate decision could be postponed" There have been indications that the decision on Serbia’s EU candidacy will be postponed until further notice, the daily has reported. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said he was hoping to get the candidate status in December but that nothing dramatic would happen if the decision was made two months later. AFP quoted on Tuesday an anonymous German diplomat as saying that Serbia had very little chance to remove the key obstacle for the EU membership by getting the EU candidate status if it failed to normalize relations with Kosovo. Vecernje novosti writes that there is only a month left until the “D Day” when the EU Council of Ministers should make a decision regarding Serbia’s EU candidate status. Polish Foreign Ministry European Policy Department Director Artur Harazim said Poland would insist that the EU heads of state make a decision on Serbia’s candidacy on December 9, even though some countries wanted to postpone the decision. According to a diplomatic source, France and Germany are the countries that are halting the process the most. When asked what France’s official position will be at the December summit, French Ambassador in Belgrade Francois-Xavier Deniau said that there had been numerous consultations among the EU member states just like ahead any important meeting in Brussels, adding that the European Commission (EC) had already given its recommendation to grant Serbia the EU candidate status and that it represented a basis for further work. German Ambassador Wolfram Maas says that he has no knowledge about the proposal to postpone the decision. “German position has been known since Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Belgrade. It is still open what the decision will be like,” he stressed. Fule’s Spokesman Peter Stano has been lobbying in the EU member states in order to make sure that the decision will not be additionally postponed. “The EC cannot tell the European Council when the issue will be put on the agenda. But we believe that there is enough time until December to reach a consensus among the member states if Serbia engages itself in the dialogue with Pristina again and implements the agreements that have been reached so far. Our position is clear – we strongly and decisively propose that Serbia be given the status at the next meeting,” Stano pointed out. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton’s Spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said she hoped that the next round of the Belgrade- Pristina dialogue would be held in November and that it would allow the process to continue. Serbian parliament’s EU Integration Committee Chairman Laslo Varga has said that Serbia is facing at least a six-month long delay on the European pathway. “If the dialogue does not continue and the declaration on Kosovo and Metohija is not adopted in parliament, I am afraid that the European leaders will postpone their decision on the candidacy for the March or June meeting,” he explained. Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Director Milica Delevic is convinced that the Council of Europe will decide on Serbia’s candidate status in December. She says that the Council is already preparing a conclusion on Serbia’s progress which the EU leaders will discuss on December 9.

"EU candidate decision could be postponed"

There have been indications that the decision on Serbia’s EU candidacy will be postponed until further notice, the daily has reported.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić said he was hoping to get the candidate status in December but that nothing dramatic would happen if the decision was made two months later.

AFP quoted on Tuesday an anonymous German diplomat as saying that Serbia had very little chance to remove the key obstacle for the EU membership by getting the EU candidate status if it failed to normalize relations with Kosovo.

Večernje novosti writes that there is only a month left until the “D Day” when the EU Council of Ministers should make a decision regarding Serbia’s EU candidate status.

Polish Foreign Ministry European Policy Department Director Artur Harazim said Poland would insist that the EU heads of state make a decision on Serbia’s candidacy on December 9, even though some countries wanted to postpone the decision.

According to a diplomatic source, France and Germany are the countries that are halting the process the most.

When asked what France’s official position will be at the December summit, French Ambassador in Belgrade Francois-Xavier Deniau said that there had been numerous consultations among the EU member states just like ahead any important meeting in Brussels, adding that the European Commission (EC) had already given its recommendation to grant Serbia the EU candidate status and that it represented a basis for further work.

German Ambassador Wolfram Maas says that he has no knowledge about the proposal to postpone the decision.

“German position has been known since Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Belgrade. It is still open what the decision will be like,” he stressed.

Fule’s Spokesman Peter Stano has been lobbying in the EU member states in order to make sure that the decision will not be additionally postponed.

“The EC cannot tell the European Council when the issue will be put on the agenda. But we believe that there is enough time until December to reach a consensus among the member states if Serbia engages itself in the dialogue with Priština again and implements the agreements that have been reached so far. Our position is clear – we strongly and decisively propose that Serbia be given the status at the next meeting,” Stano pointed out.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton’s Spokeswoman Maja Kocijančić said she hoped that the next round of the Belgrade- Priština dialogue would be held in November and that it would allow the process to continue.

Serbian parliament’s EU Integration Committee Chairman Laslo Varga has said that Serbia is facing at least a six-month long delay on the European pathway.

“If the dialogue does not continue and the declaration on Kosovo and Metohija is not adopted in parliament, I am afraid that the European leaders will postpone their decision on the candidacy for the March or June meeting,” he explained.

Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Director Milica Delević is convinced that the Council of Europe will decide on Serbia’s candidate status in December. She says that the Council is already preparing a conclusion on Serbia’s progress which the EU leaders will discuss on December 9.