Western Balkans and EU - Part 36
[ Western Balkans and EU ]
In a recent paper on Kosovo (Kosovo: Die EU am Zug), Dusan Reljic from the German think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik argues that the EU should take the lead in resolving the Kosovo status question. As the tension between the US and Russia does not seem to decrease, the EU should confirm the perspective of EU accession for the Western Balkans (including Kosovo and Serbia).Reljic considers that France is likely to play an important role during its EU presidency in the second half of 2008. Nevertheless, he sees 2 problems:
1. In 2005 France decided to allow the accession of new EU-members only if the French population votes in favour of the accession of the new member in a referendum. If France does not change its position on this issue, this will make EU accession of Western Balkan countries much more difficult and will reduce the credibility of the EU association policies in the Western Balkans. For Serbia it would be much easier to compromise on the Kosovo issue with a concrete EU accession perspective.
2. Will the government in Pristina wait until 2008 for the Kosovo status being resolved? What if Pristina declared independence before a UN-Security Council resolution? Reljic thinks that this would lead to tensions within the EU and that the EU would not support any decisions in contradiction with principles of international law.
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