French ambassador: Serbia will join EU

French Ambassador to Serbia Jean-Francois Terral says that he is convinced that Serbia will become a member of the European Union.

Izvor: FoNet

Tuesday, 23.12.2008.

16:30

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French Ambassador to Serbia Jean-Francois Terral says that he is convinced that Serbia will become a member of the European Union. He also said that France would continue to support Serbia in its integration efforts. French ambassador: Serbia will join EU The ambassador told a press conference to mark the end of France’s EU presidency, that French diplomacy had been very active and discrete on three issues regarding Serbia. Terral said that France had been worried that Serbia’s initiative before the UN General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice for its advisory opinion on Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration would cause tension between Serbia and its Western partners, most of whom were EU member states. That did not happen because the EU countries did not vote, Terral said, adding that he was glad that an agreement had been reached with Belgrade to deploy EULEX in Kosovo. “We accepted the wishes of the Serbian side, for EULEX to receive the approval of the UN, and we worked towards reaching that compromise,” the ambassador said. He said that France was happy with the outcome of those two issues, but was disappointed with the third—the fact that the Interim Trade Agreement between Serbia and EU had not been unfrozen. The ambassador said that all but two EU member-states were now convinced that since the formation of the new pro-European government and especially the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, Serbia had been cooperating well with the Hague Tribunal. Terral said that all EU decisions were made through consensus, which was why France would continue to try and win over its partners in the EU who might need more time to consider the efforts Serbia was investing in Tribunal cooperation. He said that Kosovo was not a condition for Serbia’s EU membership and concurred with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that Serbia must normalize its relations with Kosovo.

French ambassador: Serbia will join EU

The ambassador told a press conference to mark the end of France’s EU presidency, that French diplomacy had been very active and discrete on three issues regarding Serbia.

Terral said that France had been worried that Serbia’s initiative before the UN General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice for its advisory opinion on Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration would cause tension between Serbia and its Western partners, most of whom were EU member states.

That did not happen because the EU countries did not vote, Terral said, adding that he was glad that an agreement had been reached with Belgrade to deploy EULEX in Kosovo.

“We accepted the wishes of the Serbian side, for EULEX to receive the approval of the UN, and we worked towards reaching that compromise,” the ambassador said.

He said that France was happy with the outcome of those two issues, but was disappointed with the third—the fact that the Interim Trade Agreement between Serbia and EU had not been unfrozen.

The ambassador said that all but two EU member-states were now convinced that since the formation of the new pro-European government and especially the arrest of Radovan Karadžić, Serbia had been cooperating well with the Hague Tribunal.

Terral said that all EU decisions were made through consensus, which was why France would continue to try and win over its partners in the EU who might need more time to consider the efforts Serbia was investing in Tribunal cooperation.

He said that Kosovo was not a condition for Serbia’s EU membership and concurred with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that Serbia must normalize its relations with Kosovo.

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