French envoy: Serbia belongs in EU

Serbia belongs in EU and France will support its candidacy, says French Jean Francois Terral. In an interview for Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti the diplomat said that that the French president would be visiting Serbia this year, and that the text of an agreement on strategic partnership, announced last May during Boris Tadic's visit to Paris, "was ready". French envoy: Serbia belongs in EU “The negotiations should be finished with the initialing of the agreement during one of the next visits of Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner,” he said. The French ambassador stressed that agreements on internal security and youth mobility had already been signed and that they work was being done on another, related to the field of defense. “We would especially like to renew the tradition of admitting Serbian officers to education at Saint-Cyr, whose most famous example from Serbia was (King) Petar I,” Terral said. France thinks that Serbia belongs in the EU, which President Nicolas Sarkozy very clearly told the Serbian president at the meeting in Paris, the French diplomat continued. “We will support Serbia’s candidacy. We think that the forwarding to the Commission is a technical act with the goal of obtaining an opinion. The forwarding (of the candidacy status application) can follow immediately. We are hoping for a consensus as soon as possible,” Terral said. He also addressed the issue of Kosovo, by saying that regardless of the opinion on the legality of the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration, expected from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it will be necessary to work to calm and normalize "relations between Serbia and Kosovo". The goal of this, the French ambassador continued, is for "all the countries of the region to enter the EU and for harmonious relations between those countries to be developed". “Both Serbia and Kosovo are offered a European perspective. It is evident that the EU accession cannot be accepted with open issues,” he was quoted as saying, and adding that “this issue should be resolved by Belgrade and Pristina". Terral also said that Serbia and Croatia were two important countries, whose good relations were of essential importance for stability and development of the region. “They should overcome the difficulties from the past. A part of that past would be sticking to the mutual (genocide) lawsuits. It should not be too hard to solve this issue by a simultaneous withdrawal of the suits. It seems to me that authorities on both sides have the will to do that,“ he stated. Asked whether it was true that France had sent a demarche to the Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic expressing "disappointment with his policy toward Kosovo", and asking that he "mitigate his rhetoric", the French ambassador replied that what was published in a newspaper article “did not have anything to do with reality“. “On the contrary. We have been in a constant dialogue, which is constructive and intensive, with Serbian authorities. Everything else is a romanticized construction,“ said Terral.

French envoy: Serbia belongs in EU

“The negotiations should be finished with the initialing of the agreement during one of the next visits of Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner,” he said.

The French ambassador stressed that agreements on internal security and youth mobility had already been signed and that they work was being done on another, related to the field of defense.

“We would especially like to renew the tradition of admitting Serbian officers to education at Saint-Cyr, whose most famous example from Serbia was (King) Petar I,” Terral said.

France thinks that Serbia belongs in the EU, which President Nicolas Sarkozy very clearly told the Serbian president at the meeting in Paris, the French diplomat continued.

“We will support Serbia’s candidacy. We think that the forwarding to the Commission is a technical act with the goal of obtaining an opinion. The forwarding (of the candidacy status application) can follow immediately. We are hoping for a consensus as soon as possible,” Terral said.

He also addressed the issue of Kosovo, by saying that regardless of the opinion on the legality of the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration, expected from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it will be necessary to work to calm and normalize "relations between Serbia and Kosovo".

The goal of this, the French ambassador continued, is for "all the countries of the region to enter the EU and for harmonious relations between those countries to be developed".

“Both Serbia and Kosovo are offered a European perspective. It is evident that the EU accession cannot be accepted with open issues,” he was quoted as saying, and adding that “this issue should be resolved by Belgrade and Priština".

Terral also said that Serbia and Croatia were two important countries, whose good relations were of essential importance for stability and development of the region.

“They should overcome the difficulties from the past. A part of that past would be sticking to the mutual (genocide) lawsuits. It should not be too hard to solve this issue by a simultaneous withdrawal of the suits. It seems to me that authorities on both sides have the will to do that,“ he stated.

Asked whether it was true that France had sent a demarche to the Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić expressing "disappointment with his policy toward Kosovo", and asking that he "mitigate his rhetoric", the French ambassador replied that what was published in a newspaper article “did not have anything to do with reality“.

“On the contrary. We have been in a constant dialogue, which is constructive and intensive, with Serbian authorities. Everything else is a romanticized construction,“ said Terral.