DW reveals European Union's objections toward Serbia

DW reveals European Union's objections toward Serbia

"Serbia in the European Union - it is no longer a distant dream," Davenport said in early September. It was a gathering in honor of 15 years of "partnership" between the EU and Serbia, so the words were appropriate: some conciliatory messages toward the entire region, some praise of the excellent cooperation with the current government in Belgrade.

But only few days later, last week, Davenport appeared before the members of a working group on EU enlargement, which meets every couple of days in Brussels to deal with accession negotiations and developments in candidate countries. Behind the closed doors, his assessments did not have the same nature of appropriateness, DW learned from a confidential paper of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Davenport first told the delegates that the formation of Serbia's new government lasted longer than expected and that the reasons for this delay were "not completely clear." He added that Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, despite having a comfortable majority, preferred a coalition government, adding that he thought the position of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in that government was somewhat weaker than it was before the early elections. Davenport welcomed in principle the European orientation of the new-old authorities, saying that European integration was "the leitmotif" of the program of the Belgrade government.

Then Davenport listed the greatest challenges and unresolved problems: building independent institutions, public administration reforms, investment in agriculture, privatization of state-owned companies, membership in the World Trade Organization.

He particularly emphasized that "now was the time" to demonstrate the government's determination in implementing difficult reforms in the rule of law. He stressed as significant shortcomings the failure to fully implement the Action Plan for National Minorities and to appoint a war crimes prosecutor (according to Vecernje Novosti, the State Council of Prosecutors should nominate one on September 19), as well as incomplete cooperation with the Hague Tribunal .

The report that Deutsche Welle has seen does not specify what is meant by the last point, but Serbia was previously criticized for not extraditing Vojislav Seselj to The Hague before his verdict was announced, as well as for completely ignoring the order for extradite three Seselj's associates charged with contempt of court.

When it comes to reforms in the field of law, Davenport said he did not doubt the competence of new Minister of Justice Nela Kuburovic, but that it was uncertain she would get "the political support" for serious reform, particularly for amending the Constitution. He added there was in particular major resistance to a plan to transfer funds to independent institutions.

Davenport did not want to prejudge ahead of the next European Commission report on Serbia's progress which is expected in late October, especially as regards "the topic of all topics" - relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

He reiterated there was readiness in Belgrade to reach deals on (Kosovska) Mitrovica and telecommunications, but not on energy. He added that the dialogue should continue at the highest political level, and that the way should paved for the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities.

Delegates from several countries (Germany, France, Croatia) asked Davenport for his assessment of the state of media freedoms in Serbia.

He said it was crucial to bring the Regulatory Body for Electronic media and the Press Council to a state where they will be "fully performing their statutory duties."

"This is not the case yet," said the representative of the EU, but added that, nevertheless, the Press Council during the past 12 months "showed its teeth" in several cases.

Asked by the German representative how the state of the media will be treated in the progress report, Davenport said that he expects this part of the report to be similar to that published last year, with some modifications regarding the difficulties in implementing media reforms. Last year the part of the report on media freedoms, though in the usual diplomatic tone, was devastating for the government of Aleksandar Vucic.

With regard to the famed issue of regional stability, Davenport reiterated that "everyone" should refrain from counterproductive acts.

Due to such rhetoric Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic recently said that European diplomats sometimes behave "as if they were on Tibet" when they lump everyone in the same basket. Zagreb, too, would like to see some differentiation, only in a different way. The Croatian representative in the working group, for instance, stressed that the Serbian state leadership (Vucic and Dacic) wanted to discredit Croatia when they recently gathered ambassadors from 27 EU member-countries, leaving only Croatia out.

The delegates also anted to know about EU's standing in Serbia when it comes to "the strategic communication" - which can be colloquially translated as "the marketing." Davenport replied by saying that Russia's "soft power" in Serbia is today much greater than it has been in the past, and that Moscow's media presence is "very great." The European Union should not only oppose this, but also offer "a better story," concluded Davenport.