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Greek foreign minister says Kosovo will only be resolved once Serbia joins EU ELENA BECATOROSAssociated Press Writer Released : Wednesday, April 09, 2008 4:50 AM VOULIAGMENI, Greece-A definitive solution to Kosovo can only be achieved once Serbia joins the European Union, Greece's foreign minister said Wednesday, but her Serb counterpart warned that many Serbs had turned against the EU after Kosovo's declaration of independence. The secession of Kosovo, a province of Serbia with a majority ethnic Albanian population, has led to tension in the region. Belgrade blasted the move as illegal and has vowed never to allow Kosovo to join international institutions such as the United Nations. "A true solution to Kosovo will only be seen when Serbia and other countries in the region become part of the European Union," Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said during a conference near Athens attended by her counterparts from Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the prime minister of the Bosnian Serb republic. "Only then can we say we've turned the corner." Serb Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic echoed the sentiment, saying EU membership "would bring us together in democracy as never before." But he warned that many Serbs had turned against the EU after some if its member countries recognized Kosovo's independence. "For the first time since Oct. 5, 2000, the European idea in Serbia is on the defensive," Jeremic said. "It is no longer seen as our destiny, but as a decision for us to make." Oct. 5, 2000, is the date of the uprising against Slobodan Milosevic that eventually toppled the former Yugoslav president. On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the EU should sign a pre-membership agreement with Serbia quickly to boost pro-Western forces in the country before elections next month. Serbia has not been allowed to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step toward EU membership, because it has failed to arrest two suspected war criminals and hand them over to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. But Solana said closer EU cooperation with Serbia would help pro-EU forces in Serbia in the May 11 election. Jeremic said Belgrade was prepared to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement immediately, adding that this "would go a long way to secure regional stability." But he stressed that even if the agreement was signed, "the eventual success of the endeavor is not guaranteed. The future is not yet written." The result of Serbia's May 11 election will be close, Jeremic predicted. He described the vote as the most important in his country since the fall of Milosevic in 2000 and said the main issue would be whether Serbia would grow closer to the rest of Europe. "The discourse will be animated and polarizing. For these are dramatic times in Serbia, times in which confusion abounds, populism is resurfacing and aspirations are being reformulated," the foreign minister said. The election result will "produce radical consequences for the coming development of my country and the Western Balkans," he said.
