Serbia granted EU candidate status
[Brussels, 13 October 2011] The European Commission announced yesterday that Serbia will be given EU official candidate status on condition that progress is made on the border dispute with Kosovo by December. Should candidate status be granted, EWL Associate Member Organisation, the Network for the European Women’s Lobby in Serbia, will be invited to apply for full membership of the EWL at the next General Assembly which will take place in May 2012.
For more information on the negotiations with Serbia, see the press review article below from The Parliament.com.
[TheParliament.com, Brussels, 13 October 2011] The international press reports on news that Serbia has been granted EU candidate status by the European commission.
According to the Telegraph, the country will be granted EU membership as long as the "Kosovo issue" is settled by December.
The commission announced yesterday that negotiations will begin next year if Belgrade makes progress on settling a border dispute with neighbouring Kosovo.
BBC News says that Serbia’s hopes of joining the EU were frozen for many years pending the capture of two of Bosnia’s high-profile war criminals, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Despite the arrest of Karadzic and Mladic, Kosovo seems to have presented itself as a new obstacle.
Deutsche Welle highlights comments from Serbian president Boris Tadic that he was "proud" of the success and his country hopes to address the customs controls and border crossings disputes with Kosovo.
Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal says the commission has also recommended, Serbia’s neighbour, Montenegro be granted a start date for membership talks, while negotiations with Turkey have stalled.
European enlargement commissioner Štefan Füle said he recommended granting candidate status to Serbia "on the understanding that Serbia re-engages in the dialogue with Kosovo and is moving swiftly to the implementation in good faith of agreements reached to date".
