"No new conditions should be imposed on Serbia"

"No new conditions should be imposed on Serbia"

He was commenting on an amendment by the European People's Party, proposed by Croatian MEPs, that wants Serbia to "review a law that gives the special court in Belgrade jurisdiction to try war crimes committed across the former Yugoslavia."

The issue of war crimes is a sensitive topic, but unbiased trials that are in line with European standards are much more important than the issue of jurisdiction, Hahn said.

The amendment was the subject of a "fierce" debate during last night's plenary meeting on a resolution on Serbia, which will be put up for a vote on Wednesday.

Andrej Plenkovic, EPP MEP from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), said that the Serbian Law on War Crimes "introduces legal uncertainty among Croatian citizens and other EU member states" and mentioned the case of Veljko Maric, who was sentenced in Serbia for war crimes against civilians committed during Operation Storm.

MEP from Austrian Greens Ulrike Lunacek responded by saying that "the contentious law" was passed in 2003 and that the trial against Maric was conducted in cooperation with the Croatian State Prosecutor's Office.

Social Democrats MEP Tanja Fajon urged parliament to reject the amendment, arguing that it concerns a bilateral issue that should not be raised to the European level.

"This parliament should not be used for scoring political points at home," the Slovenian politician said.

During the one-hour discussion, it was pointed out that Serbia has made "great progress in the EU accession process," but that it was necessary to step up work on structural reforms, protection of minorities and the implementation of the Brussels agreement.

EP rapporteur David McAllister, who produced the draft resolution, told MEPs that the past year was very important for Serbia and praised Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic for "bravely facing difficult reforms in the economy and the judiciary."

"Serbia deserves our respect and support," said the German MEP and welcomed the Serbian minister without portfolio in charge of EU integration, Jadranka Joksimovic, who attended the session in Strasbourg.

His progress report on Serbia, which was last month agreed on at the EP Foreign Affairs Committee, contains praise for reforms, development of regional cooperation and progress in the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, but expresses concern over violations of freedom of expression, as well as an invitation for Serbia to "join sanctions against Russia."

"We welcome structural economic reforms in Serbia, the judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organized crime," Parliamentary State Secretary for the European Affairs Zanda Kalnina-Lukasevica said on behalf of the Latvian presidency of the EU.

She added that the European Council expects the first chapters in the negotiation process to open soon, and that those will be chapters 23 and 24, relating to the judiciary and fundamental rights. The Latvian official "stressed the importance of the process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina."

Hahn spoke in a similar vein, stressing the importance of freedom of speech, which he said was "a fundamental European value on which there can be no debate."

"I've always said that to Vucic during our conversations," said the EU official.

In addition to the amendment that concerns Serbia's war crimes legislation, MEPs filed several more.

The Liberals submitted an amendment which requests that Ombudsman Sasa Janković to be "protected from unfounded" attacks" and calls on authorities to allow him, to in compliance with law, freely perform his job and receive documents he requests from state authorities.

This is a somewhat more strongly-worded formulation compared to McAllister's daft resolution, which also mentioned that it was necessary to enable the ombudsman proper working conditions, but without mentioning "the pressure that he was exposed to recently in some of the media, and statements of some government officials."

The Greens' amendment calls on the European Commission to acknowledge the latest agreement reached in the Kosovo talks in February, and to, during the assessment of progress, take into account the contribution of both sides in the implementation of the Brussels agreement.

Finally, MEPs from the European United Left requested that the part "inviting Serbia to join sanctions against Russia" be removed from the draft resolution, and for the EP to condemn European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's statement that the EU will not accept any new members during the next five years as contrary to the Thessaloniki Declaration of 2004.

The final version of this resolution is expected to be adopted later today. Despite its non-binding status, the resolution "has political weight when deciding on further progress of Serbia in European integrations," said Tanjug.