Rehn: Serbia could become EU candidate in 2008

Carrots are for bunny rabbits.

I'd say that just by pushing for Kosovo's independence alone should be reason to grant Serbia EU candidacy status by 2008 - a great way to salve the wound of perceived isolation, and a way to stave off pushes by the SRS faction for continued international disengagement.

The EU is only "jerking around" with the Serbs. The offer to let the Serbs enter the EU by 2008 is timed to entice the Serbs into agreeing to accept Ahtisaari's FINAL PROPOSAL for Independence of Kosovo. In fact, It is nearly impossible for Serbia to gain admission to the EU by 2008.

Now the Serbs can feel what it means to be "jerked around". This is truly a "Just Dessert" for the Serbs.

The Serbs had better realize that signing on to Ahtisaari's proposal will be their last chance to end with a "Win-Win" solution regarding an Independent Kosova!

Arben:

If I'm not mistaken, the reference was to Serbia's being considered a EU Candidate Country in 2008, not an EU Member in 2008. Turkey, for example, officially became an EU Candidate Country in 1999 but still seems a rather long way from EU membership.

There would be NO negative ECONOMIC consequences if all 7 CEFTA countries were admitted to the EU TODAY.Start with economic integration and leave the political issues for a much later date.The EU works GREAT as an economic/free trade zone and will always exist as such.How long closer political integration takes is irrelevant for the economic lives of a majority of peoples in Europe.The US took a very long time to develop from the original 13 colonies to a confederation and finally to a federal union and let's not forget the 1860's civil war between the so called UNITED States of America.The EU is an existing market of 490m people and I guarantee you that an additional 30m will have NO negative OVERALL economic consequences whatsoever on the economies of all members.I am willing to wager my economics degree if any real European economist can quantify for me using econometric forecasting models any anticipated drop in the total GNP of any existing country or any new ones.NOBODY would object to the 4 EFTA countries(Norway,Switzerland,Liechtenstein,Iceland)joining today and I think the EU needs to think outside the box at this point in order to show that Europe is an idea which belongs to ALL and not only to the rich.

This is encouraging news, however it would obviously be presumptuous for me to remark that this signals an end to the discrepancies that perhaps Serbia has with the EU and vice versa. Nonetheless, as a man of Serbian heritage, I am at a point where I simply do not place the economic value of the EU above that of the cultural. For I read somewhere on a B92 blog that Serbia is better friends with China than it is with its natural European neighbors. Respectively, however, I would contend that this person was not Serbian in the first place. For the best friends, if you will, that Serbia has are its immediate neighbors, including of course Croatia and Greece and everyone else around Serbia. For without complete neighborly agreement, I think that things will only get worse before they get any better. Additionally, Serbia is a nation on mother Europe's soil and as such, this nation needs to be enveloped by the hand of European integration if for no other reason than that Serbia is a Christian nation that adheres to Western culture.

It would be silly for me to contend that the potential economic benefits of EU membership are not important for Serbia. They are. However, the psychological impact of the average Serbian citizen knowing that they are not foreigners on their own continent is perhaps more important. In short, Serbia has an acquaintance with China insofar as other nations do that trade with China. But to go so far as to wish for an economic system based on the cheap labor, subsidized Chinese model would prove detrimental to Serbia and for its citizens.

In essence, then, in my judgment Serbia should stick with its immediate neighbors and to form a strong bond with them in order for the nation to stimulate economic progress with or without integration into the EU. Additionally, I would think it necessary to help and to remain close with all nations in Europe so that Serbia at least can be connected with its neighbors.

However, all of this is already happening and I wouldn't be surprised if things bettered themselves significantly in the years ahead.

Serbia should rethink about the merits of becoming an EU member. A second class member that is.

Phil:

Yours is the most sober and encouraging Balkan prespective I have heard in long time. I am sure you are a good influence in whichever environment you are in.

Lowe wrote "Serbia should rethink about the merits of becoming an EU member. A second class member that is."

Well i'd Serbia/Rep Srpska
are far way advnace of some
of their existing or potential
co-members (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania),
in fields as culture, civil engineering, public health,
organizational ability and skills...

Greeks do ok in private sector
but when it comes to something
that has to do with community/
public, etcc... we fall wayyy
behind any possible nation in balkans..

So please lets not be so ignorant when criticizing
Serbs in Social/Economy/Infrastructure fields...

Achilleus:
"Well i'd Serbia/Rep Srpska
are far way advnace of some
of their existing or potential co-members (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania),
in fields as culture (...)"

As I Romanian, I feel deeply offended by this remark. Or maybe Greeks feel so superior to other people (inter alia, culturally) that they can afford to insult others? I am ashamed that this remark was made by a Greek, as my grand-grand parent was an emigrant from Greece, in 1902, when Greece was a poorer country than Romania...

Carrots are for bunny rabbits.

I'd say that just by pushing for Kosovo's independence alone should be reason to grant Serbia EU candidacy status by 2008 - a great way to salve the wound of perceived isolation, and a way to stave off pushes by the SRS faction for continued international disengagement.

The EU is only "jerking around" with the Serbs. The offer to let the Serbs enter the EU by 2008 is timed to entice the Serbs into agreeing to accept Ahtisaari's FINAL PROPOSAL for Independence of Kosovo. In fact, It is nearly impossible for Serbia to gain admission to the EU by 2008.

Now the Serbs can feel what it means to be "jerked around". This is truly a "Just Dessert" for the Serbs.

The Serbs had better realize that signing on to Ahtisaari's proposal will be their last chance to end with a "Win-Win" solution regarding an Independent Kosova!

Arben:

If I'm not mistaken, the reference was to Serbia's being considered a EU Candidate Country in 2008, not an EU Member in 2008. Turkey, for example, officially became an EU Candidate Country in 1999 but still seems a rather long way from EU membership.

There would be NO negative ECONOMIC consequences if all 7 CEFTA countries were admitted to the EU TODAY.Start with economic integration and leave the political issues for a much later date.The EU works GREAT as an economic/free trade zone and will always exist as such.How long closer political integration takes is irrelevant for the economic lives of a majority of peoples in Europe.The US took a very long time to develop from the original 13 colonies to a confederation and finally to a federal union and let's not forget the 1860's civil war between the so called UNITED States of America.The EU is an existing market of 490m people and I guarantee you that an additional 30m will have NO negative OVERALL economic consequences whatsoever on the economies of all members.I am willing to wager my economics degree if any real European economist can quantify for me using econometric forecasting models any anticipated drop in the total GNP of any existing country or any new ones.NOBODY would object to the 4 EFTA countries(Norway,Switzerland,Liechtenstein,Iceland)joining today and I think the EU needs to think outside the box at this point in order to show that Europe is an idea which belongs to ALL and not only to the rich.

This is encouraging news, however it would obviously be presumptuous for me to remark that this signals an end to the discrepancies that perhaps Serbia has with the EU and vice versa. Nonetheless, as a man of Serbian heritage, I am at a point where I simply do not place the economic value of the EU above that of the cultural. For I read somewhere on a B92 blog that Serbia is better friends with China than it is with its natural European neighbors. Respectively, however, I would contend that this person was not Serbian in the first place. For the best friends, if you will, that Serbia has are its immediate neighbors, including of course Croatia and Greece and everyone else around Serbia. For without complete neighborly agreement, I think that things will only get worse before they get any better. Additionally, Serbia is a nation on mother Europe's soil and as such, this nation needs to be enveloped by the hand of European integration if for no other reason than that Serbia is a Christian nation that adheres to Western culture.

It would be silly for me to contend that the potential economic benefits of EU membership are not important for Serbia. They are. However, the psychological impact of the average Serbian citizen knowing that they are not foreigners on their own continent is perhaps more important. In short, Serbia has an acquaintance with China insofar as other nations do that trade with China. But to go so far as to wish for an economic system based on the cheap labor, subsidized Chinese model would prove detrimental to Serbia and for its citizens.

In essence, then, in my judgment Serbia should stick with its immediate neighbors and to form a strong bond with them in order for the nation to stimulate economic progress with or without integration into the EU. Additionally, I would think it necessary to help and to remain close with all nations in Europe so that Serbia at least can be connected with its neighbors.

However, all of this is already happening and I wouldn't be surprised if things bettered themselves significantly in the years ahead.

Serbia should rethink about the merits of becoming an EU member. A second class member that is.

Phil:

Yours is the most sober and encouraging Balkan prespective I have heard in long time. I am sure you are a good influence in whichever environment you are in.

Lowe wrote "Serbia should rethink about the merits of becoming an EU member. A second class member that is."

Well i'd Serbia/Rep Srpska
are far way advnace of some
of their existing or potential
co-members (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania),
in fields as culture, civil engineering, public health,
organizational ability and skills...

Greeks do ok in private sector
but when it comes to something
that has to do with community/
public, etcc... we fall wayyy
behind any possible nation in balkans..

So please lets not be so ignorant when criticizing
Serbs in Social/Economy/Infrastructure fields...

Achilleus:
"Well i'd Serbia/Rep Srpska
are far way advnace of some
of their existing or potential co-members (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania),
in fields as culture (...)"

As I Romanian, I feel deeply offended by this remark. Or maybe Greeks feel so superior to other people (inter alia, culturally) that they can afford to insult others? I am ashamed that this remark was made by a Greek, as my grand-grand parent was an emigrant from Greece, in 1902, when Greece was a poorer country than Romania...