Daily: Prague will accept Serbia's application

This looks like an increasingly desperate attempt by the EU to get Serbia on board quickly. I suspect it is too late though and we can thank the Irish for rejecting the Lisbon treaty. Also France and Belgium for rejecting the EU constitution.

I do wonder who will be the first to leave the EU. I suspect the UK is first in line. Many citizen there really want nothing to do with the German controlled EU. It will end in tears is what I keep hearing.

Mircea... =)

with comments like this one above you make us smile!

no matter when Serbia joins the EU... it will be in your interest too, my dear albanian friend,...

since Kosovo will only join it as our southern province.

you will understand it some day - even if you believe it to be that late. =)

To ZK
The fundamental questionwith
the EU is that Europeans don't want ever closer union. Almost all countries have avoided the issue of referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
The idea of creating a superstate or an empire is a frontal attack against democracy and its citizens.
I can see the first cracks on the EU project and time will tell whether it could survive in its present form.
With regard to Brits i don't believe what they say in public.The EU commissioner Jose Barosso in an interview to british press he revealed that he held discussions with
british politicians of all parties about the possibility of Britain adopting the Euro as the country's currency.Furthermore,Britain will not leave a club in which France & Germany are members.

ZK if this initiative came from a major EU country (with respect to Czech republic) then you might be right. But at the moment it does not look as if the EU does want Serbia on board.

I'm surprised by the comments about the EU being German controlled. I actually think that Germany would stand to profit much more were it out of the union as the richest and most populated European state.

Neither do I think the EU is about to collapse. The worst or best, depending on your view, thing that can happen, is that the EU is reformed and certain powers loosened. I think its that old chestnut about what will replace it, and yes I think that most people will want something else in its place, rather than a return to say 19th or 20th century nation state philosophy.

bganon, Germany has always wanted to control Europe. It failed using aggression during WWII but is now employing a more cunning method through the EU. First to sell it as an open trading region and then to introduce a constitution or treaty that forms a super state whether the people want it or not.

The reunification of German gave it the power to pull the strings and a reason the UK resisted it. Once it was strong again, it played the lead role in destroying Yugoslavia and dividing the Serbians. Even the US recently admitted that Germany was the main force behind Kosovo's independence drive.

The undercurrents are not visible but they can be felt. To maintain power involves a great deal of deception.

With regard to Britain, it's unlikely we'll be the first to leave for many reasons. For one, we're too tied to the US and the US needs us in there to look after its interests. Public opinion is roughly 50/50 split and whilst we're xenophobic in nature, that's far too many to see us turn our backs on what is essentially good for us as a nation. Many Brits don't like Europe, but business and decision makers do. Isolated from Europe, our economy would collapse even further than it has done already.

As for Serbia joing, the EU needs Serbia as much as Serbia needs the EU. All that's happening at the moment is politics in all its glory. Serbia will join the EU, the only question is when and under what terms.

Jovan,

I am Romanian. I am not albanian.

If Serbia begins accession negotiations with the EU in 2010, then Serbia will probably join the EU in 2016 or 2017.

Leonidas, all countries were denied the right to vote on the Lisbon treaty because the dictators knew it would not pass. It is just a rewrite of the rejected EU constitution.

Fortunately for us, due to the constitutional change, Ireland has to vote on it by law and that saved the day. The cracks are appearing within the EU and as the economic situation worsens, there will come some real tests to unity.

zorank@email.com

ZK,

The only country that has a chance to join the EU quickly is Iceland.

Mr.Olli Rehn said that Iceland has a chance to join the EU in 2011 with Croatia if Iceland submits its EU membership application soon.

Serbia's road to the EU is very long and very difficult.

ZK Germany may want to control Europe, but which nation doesn't? France? Britain?

Some of this eurosceptism, at least from Britain, is it not because a lot of little Englanders want to control Europe themselves and still hark back to the days of the British Emprire. On the other hand the French have been relatively happy to sit back because they have used Germany's economic power to push through their vision of Europe.

I agree that Europe (EU) has problems, for example the beauracracy, corruption and disenfranchisment that people feel from 'Brussels Bureaucrats'. But theories that tap into old antagonisms involving nazis and so on, smell a little like paranoia to me.

But yes, it is indisputable that Germany played a major, negative role on the break - up of Yugoslavia. However, I think that the German position in the region has changed.

ZK,

The only country that has a chance to join the EU quickly is Iceland.

Mr.Olli Rehn said that Iceland has a chance to join the EU in 2011 with Croatia if Iceland submits its EU membership application soon.

Serbia's road to the EU is very long and very difficult.

If Serbia begins accession negotiations with the EU in 2010, then Serbia will probably join the EU in 2016 or 2017.

Jovan,

I am Romanian. I am not albanian.

This looks like an increasingly desperate attempt by the EU to get Serbia on board quickly. I suspect it is too late though and we can thank the Irish for rejecting the Lisbon treaty. Also France and Belgium for rejecting the EU constitution.

I do wonder who will be the first to leave the EU. I suspect the UK is first in line. Many citizen there really want nothing to do with the German controlled EU. It will end in tears is what I keep hearing.

Mircea... =)

with comments like this one above you make us smile!

no matter when Serbia joins the EU... it will be in your interest too, my dear albanian friend,...

since Kosovo will only join it as our southern province.

you will understand it some day - even if you believe it to be that late. =)

ZK if this initiative came from a major EU country (with respect to Czech republic) then you might be right. But at the moment it does not look as if the EU does want Serbia on board.

I'm surprised by the comments about the EU being German controlled. I actually think that Germany would stand to profit much more were it out of the union as the richest and most populated European state.

Neither do I think the EU is about to collapse. The worst or best, depending on your view, thing that can happen, is that the EU is reformed and certain powers loosened. I think its that old chestnut about what will replace it, and yes I think that most people will want something else in its place, rather than a return to say 19th or 20th century nation state philosophy.

To ZK
The fundamental questionwith
the EU is that Europeans don't want ever closer union. Almost all countries have avoided the issue of referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
The idea of creating a superstate or an empire is a frontal attack against democracy and its citizens.
I can see the first cracks on the EU project and time will tell whether it could survive in its present form.
With regard to Brits i don't believe what they say in public.The EU commissioner Jose Barosso in an interview to british press he revealed that he held discussions with
british politicians of all parties about the possibility of Britain adopting the Euro as the country's currency.Furthermore,Britain will not leave a club in which France & Germany are members.

Leonidas, all countries were denied the right to vote on the Lisbon treaty because the dictators knew it would not pass. It is just a rewrite of the rejected EU constitution.

Fortunately for us, due to the constitutional change, Ireland has to vote on it by law and that saved the day. The cracks are appearing within the EU and as the economic situation worsens, there will come some real tests to unity.

zorank@email.com

bganon, Germany has always wanted to control Europe. It failed using aggression during WWII but is now employing a more cunning method through the EU. First to sell it as an open trading region and then to introduce a constitution or treaty that forms a super state whether the people want it or not.

The reunification of German gave it the power to pull the strings and a reason the UK resisted it. Once it was strong again, it played the lead role in destroying Yugoslavia and dividing the Serbians. Even the US recently admitted that Germany was the main force behind Kosovo's independence drive.

The undercurrents are not visible but they can be felt. To maintain power involves a great deal of deception.

With regard to Britain, it's unlikely we'll be the first to leave for many reasons. For one, we're too tied to the US and the US needs us in there to look after its interests. Public opinion is roughly 50/50 split and whilst we're xenophobic in nature, that's far too many to see us turn our backs on what is essentially good for us as a nation. Many Brits don't like Europe, but business and decision makers do. Isolated from Europe, our economy would collapse even further than it has done already.

As for Serbia joing, the EU needs Serbia as much as Serbia needs the EU. All that's happening at the moment is politics in all its glory. Serbia will join the EU, the only question is when and under what terms.

ZK Germany may want to control Europe, but which nation doesn't? France? Britain?

Some of this eurosceptism, at least from Britain, is it not because a lot of little Englanders want to control Europe themselves and still hark back to the days of the British Emprire. On the other hand the French have been relatively happy to sit back because they have used Germany's economic power to push through their vision of Europe.

I agree that Europe (EU) has problems, for example the beauracracy, corruption and disenfranchisment that people feel from 'Brussels Bureaucrats'. But theories that tap into old antagonisms involving nazis and so on, smell a little like paranoia to me.

But yes, it is indisputable that Germany played a major, negative role on the break - up of Yugoslavia. However, I think that the German position in the region has changed.