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BACKTRACKING ON KOSOVO?
Serbia Ponders Returning Diplomats to EU Countries
By Charles Hawley in Berlin
When a number of EU countries recognized Kosovo's independence early this year, Serbia withdrew its ambassadors. Now, Belgrade is thinking of sending them back. Are the Serbs giving up on Kosovo?
First it was the announcement on Tuesday that presumed war criminal Radovan Karadzic had been captured just outside of Belgrade. And now, it looks like the Serbian government may soon resume diplomatic relations with those European Union countries which have recognized the independence of Kosovo.
In an interview published in the Wednesday edition of the French daily Le Monde, Serbia's pro-Western Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that he wants to resume diplomatic ties with those European Union countries which recognized Kosovo when the breakaway province declared independence in February. He said he planned to introduce the proposal to the Serbian cabinet on Thursday.
"We have two absolute priorities," Jeremic told Le Monde, "the European integration of Serbia and pursuing diplomatic efforts to defend our sovereignty over Kosovo."
The comments come just a day after news of the capture of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian-Serb leader who was indicted for war crimes by the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague over a decade ago. Karadzic stands accused of having masterminded both the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered, and the extended siege of Sarajevo, which ultimately cost the lives of some 11,000 people.
Many had long assumed that Serbian officials knew where to find Karadzic and fellow alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic, but had elected not to arrest them. The European Union has long insisted that for Serbia to begin EU accession negotiations, both Karadzic and Mladic must be turned over to The Hague. The capture of Karadzic seems like yet another concrete step toward European integration taken by a government that seems intent on turning its back on Serbia's recent history of isolation.
Returning ambassadors to European capitals -- including London, Rome, Paris and Berlin -- would likewise be a powerful signal that Serbia is serious about wanting to integrate with the EU.
"Jeremic and the new government want to change the tone of how they deal with the outside world," Alexander Anderson, Serbia and Kosovo analyst for the International Crisis Group, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "They have a very great desire to move as fast as they can and as far as they can in the second half of this year because EU integration is the central promise of this government."
The government in question is that of Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, who came into office at the end of June after weeks of political haggling following May parliamentary elections. One of the first acts of the new government was to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, which is seen as an initial step toward eventual EU membership.
But Cvetkovic's pro-Western path makes the issue of Kosovo that much more difficult for his government to deal with. Already, Slobodan Samardzic, a senior member of former Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (eds: not to be confused with Cvetkovic's Democratic Party), has accused him and Jeremic of "capitulation" when it comes to Kosovo. Many Serbian nationalists are wary of the new government.
Jeremic and his government have repeatedly responded by saying that Serbia's territorial integrity -- code for regaining control of the breakaway former Serb province -- is also a government priority. Returning Serbia's ambassadors to Europe, Jeremic said on Serbian state television recently, "does not imply any change in the state policy concerning Kosovo." So far, 43 of the 192 United Nation member countries have recognized Kosovo's independence.
His government's recognition of the Serbian governing body in Mitrovica -- the predominantly Serbian area of northern Kosovo -- despite the body's hostility to Belgrade and to Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic, seems to back up such claims. On the other hand, they have also begun cooperating more closely with UNMIK, the UN civilian administration in Kosovo -- while remaining opposed to an EU mission which plans to deploy 2,200 police officers there.
"This government doesn’t really have a full identity for itself on Kosovo policy," Anderson said. "It's not going to give away the store."
But it will likely do what it can to get firmly on the EU track. "We are counting on France, as current holder of the EU presidency, to support us in obtaining official EU candidate status by the end of the year," Jeremic told Le Monde.
The European Union, for its part, is so far trying to give the new Serbian government plenty of room as it feels its way forward on Kosovo. "The resumption of diplomatic relations and returning Serbia's ambassadors to the respective capitals may not be a softening of its well known position on Kosovo," Hido Biscevic, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council -- the successor organization of the European Union's Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe -- told SPIEGEL ONLINE in an e-mail on Wednesday. "But it is certainly part of a broader push to move Serbia forward, across the lines that held the country in some kind of status quo for quite a long period."
Serbia Ponders Returning Diplomats to EU Countries
By Charles Hawley in Berlin
When a number of EU countries recognized Kosovo's independence early this year, Serbia withdrew its ambassadors. Now, Belgrade is thinking of sending them back. Are the Serbs giving up on Kosovo?
First it was the announcement on Tuesday that presumed war criminal Radovan Karadzic had been captured just outside of Belgrade. And now, it looks like the Serbian government may soon resume diplomatic relations with those European Union countries which have recognized the independence of Kosovo.
In an interview published in the Wednesday edition of the French daily Le Monde, Serbia's pro-Western Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that he wants to resume diplomatic ties with those European Union countries which recognized Kosovo when the breakaway province declared independence in February. He said he planned to introduce the proposal to the Serbian cabinet on Thursday.
"We have two absolute priorities," Jeremic told Le Monde, "the European integration of Serbia and pursuing diplomatic efforts to defend our sovereignty over Kosovo."
The comments come just a day after news of the capture of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian-Serb leader who was indicted for war crimes by the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague over a decade ago. Karadzic stands accused of having masterminded both the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered, and the extended siege of Sarajevo, which ultimately cost the lives of some 11,000 people.
Many had long assumed that Serbian officials knew where to find Karadzic and fellow alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic, but had elected not to arrest them. The European Union has long insisted that for Serbia to begin EU accession negotiations, both Karadzic and Mladic must be turned over to The Hague. The capture of Karadzic seems like yet another concrete step toward European integration taken by a government that seems intent on turning its back on Serbia's recent history of isolation.
Returning ambassadors to European capitals -- including London, Rome, Paris and Berlin -- would likewise be a powerful signal that Serbia is serious about wanting to integrate with the EU.
"Jeremic and the new government want to change the tone of how they deal with the outside world," Alexander Anderson, Serbia and Kosovo analyst for the International Crisis Group, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "They have a very great desire to move as fast as they can and as far as they can in the second half of this year because EU integration is the central promise of this government."
The government in question is that of Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, who came into office at the end of June after weeks of political haggling following May parliamentary elections. One of the first acts of the new government was to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, which is seen as an initial step toward eventual EU membership.
But Cvetkovic's pro-Western path makes the issue of Kosovo that much more difficult for his government to deal with. Already, Slobodan Samardzic, a senior member of former Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (eds: not to be confused with Cvetkovic's Democratic Party), has accused him and Jeremic of "capitulation" when it comes to Kosovo. Many Serbian nationalists are wary of the new government.
Jeremic and his government have repeatedly responded by saying that Serbia's territorial integrity -- code for regaining control of the breakaway former Serb province -- is also a government priority. Returning Serbia's ambassadors to Europe, Jeremic said on Serbian state television recently, "does not imply any change in the state policy concerning Kosovo." So far, 43 of the 192 United Nation member countries have recognized Kosovo's independence.
His government's recognition of the Serbian governing body in Mitrovica -- the predominantly Serbian area of northern Kosovo -- despite the body's hostility to Belgrade and to Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic, seems to back up such claims. On the other hand, they have also begun cooperating more closely with UNMIK, the UN civilian administration in Kosovo -- while remaining opposed to an EU mission which plans to deploy 2,200 police officers there.
"This government doesn’t really have a full identity for itself on Kosovo policy," Anderson said. "It's not going to give away the store."
But it will likely do what it can to get firmly on the EU track. "We are counting on France, as current holder of the EU presidency, to support us in obtaining official EU candidate status by the end of the year," Jeremic told Le Monde.
The European Union, for its part, is so far trying to give the new Serbian government plenty of room as it feels its way forward on Kosovo. "The resumption of diplomatic relations and returning Serbia's ambassadors to the respective capitals may not be a softening of its well known position on Kosovo," Hido Biscevic, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council -- the successor organization of the European Union's Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe -- told SPIEGEL ONLINE in an e-mail on Wednesday. "But it is certainly part of a broader push to move Serbia forward, across the lines that held the country in some kind of status quo for quite a long period."