Montgomery: Serbia's path to EU - infinite set of steps BELGRADE, November 1. (TANJUG). The last U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, William Montgomery, stated on Sunday evening that he believes that Serbia's EU accession process will be very slow and difficult and that it will not be completed in the next seven or eight years.
The U.S. diplomat stated for the Belgrade-based TV B92 that he is certain that Serbia will not become an EU member state as long as it does not arrest the two remaining International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, and until the relations with Kosovo are fully normalized. Commenting Serbia's path after the decision of the EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg to forward Serbia's EU candidacy application to the European Commission (EC), Montgomery said that he views the process as an infinite set of steps, adding that each next step on Serbia's EU path will be conditioned. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic stated in the same TV show that that if Serbia does not extradite Mladic and Hadzic, it may gain the EU candidate status and even enter talks on the EU membership, but that it will be very difficult for the country to become an EU member state. Djelic also said that the EU path will be demanding and lengthy, but nevertheless good and beneficial for all Serbian citizens. http://bsanna-news.ukrinform.ua/newsitem.php?id=14544&lang=en
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