The FINANCIAL — (BLED) – Serbia urged the European Union on Saturday to continue its enlargement process after Croatia's planned accession in 2013, publishes EU Business web-edition today. Also Serbia is warning any halt could threaten stability in the Balkans.
"If the end of Croatia's accession coincides with the beginning of Serbia's negotiations, that will ensure continuity and stability in the Balkans," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told AFP on the sidelines of a conference in Slovenia's lake resort of Bled.
"Everything short of that will create a vacuum," Jeremic said at a conference on the future of the Balkans, warning that a halt in the enlargement process could lead to a fresh fragmentation of the region.
As reminder, after Slovenia, Croatia became the second former Yugoslav state to wrap up EU accession talks in June and is set to become the bloc's 28th member in mid-2013.
Serbia hopes to be granted candidate status in December, although Brussels has warned Belgrade's relations with Kosovo were among key criteria the country has to meet to progress towards EU membership remarks EU Business.
Jeremic said Serbia is prepared to meet all the conditions set by the EU for new candidate states but warned: "We will not be able to do more than that."
Serbia has rejected Pristina's unilaterally proclaimed independence and still considers Kosovo a southern province.
More than 80 countries, including 22 out of 27 EU member states and the United States, have recognised predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo as an independent state.
Discussion about this post