Merkel: No EU for Serbia with the Kosovo problem in tow

By Boris Babic Aug 23, 2011, 13:05 GMT

Belgrade - German Chancellor Angela Merkel all but spelled it out for President Boris Tadic in Belgrade on Tuesday, that what Serbia sees as an unresolved relationship with Kosovo will hamper its ambition to join the European Union.

'Germany recognized Kosovo, Serbia did not. It is sopmething we will have to work out,' she told reporters in a joint press conference with Tadic.

She said Serbia must resolve its problems with Kosovo to move anywhere near to EU membership: 'We cannot lead EU accession talks, close all the chapters and then remember that we have one more.'

The 'next step' in the process for Serbia is to resume a dialogue on everyday issues with Kosovo, which was disrupted in July and led to renewed violence and tensions in the mostly ethnic Albanian former province.

Merkel also bluntly said Serbia must dismantle the structures of parallel authority in the volatile Serb enclave in the north and allow EU's mission in Kosovo, the EULEX, to implement law and order there.

In the dialogue, launched in March with EU facilitation, problems such as land registry records, mutual recognition of education records and the issue that blocked the talks, trade and custom permits.

Merkel did not elaborate on what Serbia must do after it meets the conditions she laid out, but at that stage Serbia will have far less influence on events in Serb enclaves in Kosovo and Pristina will be able to assert control over its territory.

Even then, Merkel said, 'in Europe we cannot have somebody leaving a conference in Europe when somebody else shows up.'

She was referring to Serbia's boycott of conferences with Kosovo taking part - which is often, as Kosovo has been recognized by more than 80 nations worldwide, including United States, 22 out of the 27 EU nations and all in the region apart from Greece and Romania.

At the and of the day, Merkel only did not say it loudly, that Serbia will have to come to terms with the loss of Kosovo or abandon its ambition to become a part of the EU.

Tadic got the message, but stood his ground, repeating the promise that Serbia will not give up its claim on Kosovo and insisting that Belgrade was already fully devoted to resolving problems with Kosovo.

'Serbia already leads a policy of reconciliation, but does not recognize the independence of Kosovo,' he interjected after Merkel answered a question directed at her. 'I think a policy that would confront Serbia with the choice of Kosovo or the EU is wrong.'

Tadic, who heads a fragile pro-European coalition that is crumbling under the pressure both from the economic crisis and from nationalists who criticize any deal over Kosovo as treason, had hoped for better news from Merkel's visit.

Facing regular elections in the first half of 2012, he had hoped for a booster - that EU will formally recognize Serbia as a membership candidate and set the date for the start of the talks.

Despite Merkel's assurances that EU wants Serbia as its member, her strong insistence that it first had to resolve problems with Kosovo make the latter seem a very distant possibility.

The German chancellor actually stressed that Serbian politicians must begin working to pluck their country out of the quagmire without keeping an eye out on elections and popularity surveys.

Tadic grimly rejected the notion that he is not interested in votes, but it is certain that the calculating in his camp already began over the question of what is less damaging, another concession on Kosovo or another confrontation with the West.

The last time that question was on Tadic's table was a year ago, when Serbia withdrew a resolution on Kosovo it wanted debated in the United Nations and bowed to pressure by agreeing to launch the first-ever direct talks with Kosovo.

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