"Disappointed" EU says Serbia deal delayed
Wed Feb 6, 2008 5:59pm EST
By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The European Union said on Wednesday it will not
sign a pact on ties with Serbia this week as planned, after Belgrade's
nationalist prime minister blocked the move.
The two sides were to have signed the deal on trade, visas and education on
Thursday but Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica denounced it as a trick on
Tuesday, bringing Belgrade's ruling coalition close to collapse.
Kostunica said the pact was a sop to Serbia by the European Union for the
imminent loss of the breakaway province of Kosovo.
EU Commissioner Olli Rehn accused Kostunica of going back on a longstanding
understanding not to link Serbia's EU ties to Kosovo, for which the EU on
Monday authorised a supervisory mission ahead of an independence declaration
seen this month.
"With this blockage, certain politicians are in a way filing for a divorce
before the marriage has yet even been agreed," Rehn told a news briefing. "I
find that...rather regrettable."
"It is truly sad for Serbia that politicians continue to put power games ahead
of their own citizens' interests," he added, saying that Kostunica had agreed
some 18 months ago not to link Serbia's EU ties to Kosovo's fate.
EU foreign ministers offered the deal last week to prevent a nationalist
backlash in Sunday's presidential election, narrowly won by pro-EU incumbent
Boris Tadic over a pro-Russian challenger.
Rehn and Slovenia, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency said the
proposed pact with Serbia remained on the table.
"The presidency hopes that Serbia will soon positively respond to the European
offer, which would enable the signing of the agreement in the following days,"
Slovenia said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Rehn said the 27-nation bloc also remained ready to sign the broader
Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), a prelude to membership, when
Belgrade met the political conditions -- full cooperation with the U.N. war
crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Tadic was re-elected on a pledge of pursuing EU membership no matter what
happens with Kosovo, where the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is set to
declare independence this month with the West's backing.
Former U.S. ambassador to Serbia, William Montgomery, said this week Kostunica
seemed determined to force the EU to choose between its plans for Kosovo and
its relationship with Serbia.
It was hard to see how the impasse could end in any way other than a breakdown
in the coalition, he said. (Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by
Stephen Weeks)
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