EU leaders steer clear of Serbia discussions

Discussions regarding Serbia’s European future were pulled off the agenda of this week’s EU summit at the last minute.

Izvor: B92

Friday, 19.06.2009.

09:46

Default images

Discussions regarding Serbia’s European future were pulled off the agenda of this week’s EU summit at the last minute. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso would not say, when asked by journalists late last night, if there had been any talk of Serbia. EU leaders steer clear of Serbia discussions Since that was the last question of the press conference, that also covered the issue of the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Barroso said that EU heads of state and government would report on the efforts to address the latter problem before taking his leave, seemingly oblivious to questions relating to Serbia or the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute. Journalists asked Dutch President Peter Balkenende why there had been no talk of Serbia, to which he replied that this was not a question for him, but for his minister. However, nor was Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen in any mood to hang around to speak to journalists, leaving the hall immediately after the end of the session. With that, no-one was any the wiser at the first day of the summit as to whether the rumors that there would be talk of the unfreezing of the Interim Trade Agreement between Serbia and the EU had actually come to fruition. It came after a recommendation arrived via the general secretariat of the EU Council of Minister yesterday afternoon that EU leaders were due to discuss the possibility of unfreezing the interim trade agreement with Serbia. In the meantime, Dutch officials continued to insist that they would not be budging from their position that there would no unfreezing of the agreement with Serbia until Ratko Mladic was arrested and extradited to the Hague Tribunal. According to sources close to the summit, Holland apparently asked Czech officials, who currently hold the rotating EU presidency, to omit any talk of Serbia from the general debate, despite EU officials’ earlier statements that the Interim Agreement should be unfrozen in a sign of full support for Serbia’s pro-EU government. Topics for the summit are proposed by the presiding EU member-state, but heads of state and government of any country can propose a topic during the summit at any time, or discuss them behind the scenes. (Beta)

EU leaders steer clear of Serbia discussions

Since that was the last question of the press conference, that also covered the issue of the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Barroso said that EU heads of state and government would report on the efforts to address the latter problem before taking his leave, seemingly oblivious to questions relating to Serbia or the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute.

Journalists asked Dutch President Peter Balkenende why there had been no talk of Serbia, to which he replied that this was not a question for him, but for his minister.

However, nor was Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen in any mood to hang around to speak to journalists, leaving the hall immediately after the end of the session.

With that, no-one was any the wiser at the first day of the summit as to whether the rumors that there would be talk of the unfreezing of the Interim Trade Agreement between Serbia and the EU had actually come to fruition.

It came after a recommendation arrived via the general secretariat of the EU Council of Minister yesterday afternoon that EU leaders were due to discuss the possibility of unfreezing the interim trade agreement with Serbia.

In the meantime, Dutch officials continued to insist that they would not be budging from their position that there would no unfreezing of the agreement with Serbia until Ratko Mladić was arrested and extradited to the Hague Tribunal.

According to sources close to the summit, Holland apparently asked Czech officials, who currently hold the rotating EU presidency, to omit any talk of Serbia from the general debate, despite EU officials’ earlier statements that the Interim Agreement should be unfrozen in a sign of full support for Serbia’s pro-EU government.

Topics for the summit are proposed by the presiding EU member-state, but heads of state and government of any country can propose a topic during the summit at any time, or discuss them behind the scenes.

Komentari 12

Pogledaj komentare

12 Komentari

Možda vas zanima

Podeli: