Germany doesn’t want Serbia in EU?

Belgrade Daily Blic writes that Germany is one of the biggest opponents of further EU enlargement that would include the Western Balkans. Only Russia and Germany will not send their foreign minister to the Sarajevo conference on June 2, while Berlin is considering not participating at all, the newspaper writes, and adds that “few thought the conference would even take place”. Germany doesn’t want Serbia in EU? The daily's unnamed source said that the EU was now “a little on the defensive”, because it will be “impossible to justify” further postponements of the association of the Western Balkans after the Sarajevo conference citing a lack of regional cooperation – whether the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) or the applications for EU candidacy are in question. Presidents of Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed a statement this weekend stressing the important for regional cooperation and the fact that “full-fledged EU members is the strategic goal of all of the countries gathered within the Igman Initiative”, said the article. Serbian President Boris Tadic was quoted as saying that halting the EU integration of the Western Balkans would have “tragic consequences for the region’s citizens”. Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has been heard sending an “even more stern message”, writes the newspaper. Ahead of his visit to Berlin, Jeremic told the Spiegel magazine that if the EU forgets about the Western Balkans, “new crises will not be impossible, and the geo-political price will be very high”. Ambassador: Germany supports integrations German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas said on Monday in Belgrade that his country supports EU integration of the Western Balkans. He added that the conditions for joining the European Union have not changed and that it is up to Serbia to fulfill these conditions. “Only Serbia would be able to stand in its own way in the EU integration process. I do not know anyone who has a different opinion. The conditions for joining the EU were determined in 1995,” the diplomat was quoted as saying. Maas quoted Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who said that it was better to act preventively than to have problems pile up. “He is absolutely right, because the EU has learned that, and we will pay special attention to the problems of organized crime, corruption and we do not wish to import territorial conflicts into the EU. All of these questions come from the Copenhagen criteria,” Maas said. The ambassador stated that “nothing had changed and that it was up to Serbia to continue its road towards the EU”, adding that he believed that the Serbian government and administration were very determined on this path.

Germany doesn’t want Serbia in EU?

The daily's unnamed source said that the EU was now “a little on the defensive”, because it will be “impossible to justify” further postponements of the association of the Western Balkans after the Sarajevo conference citing a lack of regional cooperation – whether the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) or the applications for EU candidacy are in question.

Presidents of Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed a statement this weekend stressing the important for regional cooperation and the fact that “full-fledged EU members is the strategic goal of all of the countries gathered within the Igman Initiative”, said the article.

Serbian President Boris Tadić was quoted as saying that halting the EU integration of the Western Balkans would have “tragic consequences for the region’s citizens”.

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić has been heard sending an “even more stern message”, writes the newspaper. Ahead of his visit to Berlin, Jeremić told the Spiegel magazine that if the EU forgets about the Western Balkans, “new crises will not be impossible, and the geo-political price will be very high”.

Ambassador: Germany supports integrations

German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas said on Monday in Belgrade that his country supports EU integration of the Western Balkans.

He added that the conditions for joining the European Union have not changed and that it is up to Serbia to fulfill these conditions.

“Only Serbia would be able to stand in its own way in the EU integration process. I do not know anyone who has a different opinion. The conditions for joining the EU were determined in 1995,” the diplomat was quoted as saying.

Maas quoted Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who said that it was better to act preventively than to have problems pile up.

“He is absolutely right, because the EU has learned that, and we will pay special attention to the problems of organized crime, corruption and we do not wish to import territorial conflicts into the EU. All of these questions come from the Copenhagen criteria,” Maas said.

The ambassador stated that “nothing had changed and that it was up to Serbia to continue its road towards the EU”, adding that he believed that the Serbian government and administration were very determined on this path.