Serbia, Once Outcast, Is Candidate to Join E.U.

[George S.]

commonsensense seems to have gone out the window onur.I would not be surprised that they are doing the greeces bidding to stop you from getting in the eu.It 's as if you are begging to join>I wouldn't waste my time what a joke.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Serbia, Once Outcast, Is Candidate to Join E.U.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/europe/serbia-is-candidate-for-european-union.html

BRUSSELS — Serbia formally became a candidate for European Union membership late Thursday in a significant advance for the nation, once ostracized for its role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

At a meeting in Brussels, European Union leaders agreed that the government in Belgrade had made enough progress to be placed on a clear path toward joining the bloc.

In recent years, Serbia has stepped up cooperation on tracking down war crime suspects, and last month it signed an agreement to improve contacts with its breakaway former province of Kosovo. Last October, the European Commission made improved relations with Kosovo a condition of Serbia’s being granted official candidacy.

“We agreed tonight to grant Serbia the status of E.U. candidate country,” Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, told reporters on Thursday night. “This is a remarkable achievement, a result of the efforts demonstrated by both sides in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.”

Serbia was considered responsible for much of the conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s, and NATO bombed it in 1999 in an effort to prevent a more severe crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province that eventually declared independence. The legacy of that period set back Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union as it struggled to come to terms with the past while modernizing its economy and political system.

For years, Serbia’s bid for membership was thwarted because of the hunt for Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander. That obstacle disappeared when Mr. Mladic was arrested last year and handed to a United Nations tribunal in The Hague, where he has been indicted on genocide charges. Prosecutors have argued that forces under the former general’s command massacred more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995.

The European Union has struggled in recent years to accommodate 12 new nations, which it accepted during expansions in 2004 and 2007. Most are former Communist countries in Eastern Europe. But despite flagging public enthusiasm for the prospect of further enlargement, European policy makers have kept the door open to Balkan countries in the hope that the lure of European Union membership can help stabilize a volatile region.

Slovenia joined the bloc in 2004, and next year Croatia is to become the second bloc nation that once was part of the former Yugoslavia.

Thursday’s agreement was preceded by the drafting of an accord between Romania and Serbia on the treatment of minorities, to overcome Romanian objections about the position of minorities in Serbia.

Even with candidate status, it is likely that Serbia will have to wait about a year for a starting date for negotiations with the European Commission to bring its laws in line with union laws, a process that can take several years. Croatia’s talks began in 2005 and concluded late last year.

No country that has begun negotiations has ever been denied European Union membership, although Turkey’s accession process has stalled over its refusal to recognize Cyprus, a union member.

Serbia will have to navigate a series of difficult issues as part of its application. The government in Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state and was not asked to do so as a condition of gaining candidate status by the bloc, which is itself divided on the issue. However, Europe’s leaders did insist on improved relations between Serbia and Kosovo before taking the latest step.

Last month, the two sides agreed on conditions under which Kosovo can be represented at international meetings and on technical parameters for border controls.

Diplomats hope the deal on border issues will reduce recent tension in northern Kosovo, where many Serbs reject the government in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital.

[FriendofMacedonia]

A sad day indeed.

[Risto the Great]

Macedonia gave up its sovereignty to do the same. Serbia only gave up Kosovo.

[Zarni]

Disheartening all round and pathetic

[Onur]

This is just for keeping Serbia under pressure. They tried to do same thing to Turkey but it didn't work. They are also doing the same to Macedonia too like "obey our demands otherwise you cant be an EU member". They will keep saying the same thing to Serbia now.

Hungary will try to prevent Serbian progression for Hungarian minority in Banat. Also, i don't think that anyone can convince Dutch, Finn, Austrian people/ruling parties to accept new poor members. This is just a trick to make Serbians obey their demands, nothing else.

[Komita]

The government in Serbia are the same sell outs like in Macedonia, they would sell their soul for EU membership while the country is falling apart and they also gave up on Kosovo.
Now 12 years later and after what happened in Serbia and Macedonia, I can only say that Slobodan Milosevic was the last great leader of this region, he had many faults but in comparison to today's politicians he had authority and look of a great leader that stood up against the west.

[Phoenix]

The government in Serbia are the same sell outs like in Macedonia, they would sell their soul for EU membership while the country is falling apart and they also gave up on Kosovo.
Now 12 years later and after what happened in Serbia and Macedonia, I can only say that Slobodan Milosevic was the last great leader of this region, he had many faults but in comparison to today's politicians he had authority and look of a great leader that stood up against the west.

I would argue that if it wasn't for Milosevic, the entire region would be far better off, ironically it's because of Milosevic that the shiptar has raised his head and Kosovo is lost.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Phoenix, how do you think the problem of Albanian extremism could have been controlled in Macedonia and Serbia?

[Komita]

I would argue that if it wasn't for Milosevic, the entire region would be far better off, ironically it's because of Milosevic that the shiptar has raised his head and Kosovo is lost.

The siptars on Kosovo had every right and killed, terrorized, raped and threatened serbs from 1945 until the 80's when Milosevic came to power. So they raised their head's long before he came to power the only difference was that the communists didn't care but turned their head the other way just like the situation in Macedonia.
He was the only one that tried to solve the albanian and Kosovo question in serbian favor.
The communist regime prohibited the serbs on Kosovo to return to their homes after 1945 and gave the albanians autonomy and economic reliefs for every child born, yet it was Milosevic .

[Phoenix]

Phoenix, how do you think the problem of Albanian extremism could have been controlled in Macedonia and Serbia?

SoM, Serbian chauvinism orchestrated predominantly by Milosevic created a fertile environment to cast the serbs as pariahs, nobody in the Western world had sympathy for serbia during that period.

The serbs essentially destroyed themselves and in the process created a great deal of instability in Macedonia at a time when the world took pity on the 'plight' of the shiptari.

shiptar extremism correlates with the declining power of the serb and Macedonian states. If the wars in the former YU didn't suck the life out of serbia and Macedonia, the conditions for shiptar extremism would never have festered

Economic and political decline and uncertainty together with rabid serbian chauvinism created the 'perfect storm' that the shiptar movement was able to take advantage of...

[Soldier of Macedon]

If one looks at the end result of the Yugoslav wars and dissolution of the federation, all 6 republics achieved independence. There are three major outstanding matters: Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. How do you think the issue of ethnic differences in Bosnia could have been settled? And how could the tendencies of Albanian separatists be quelled in Kosovo and Macedonia, given that their 'aspirations' predate the breakup of Yugoslavia?

[Phoenix]

If one looks at the end result of the Yugoslav wars and dissolution of the federation, all 6 republics achieved independence. There are three major outstanding matters: Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. How do you think the issue of ethnic differences in Bosnia could have been settled? And how could the tendencies of Albanian separatists be quelled in Kosovo and Macedonia, given that their 'aspirations' predate the breakup of Yugoslavia?

SoM, the shiptari were at the right place at the right time and they took full advantage of the situation.

The serbs had become universally hated for their aggression in the republics of the former YU. The shiptari leveraged this momentum that built against serbia and later Macedonia.

War creates incredible instability, the shiptari were able to take advantage...history is littered with similar examples some successful others not.

The Karan people of Burma is a good example of an independence movement incapable of taking advantage of civil war, mainly because they failed to establish a suitable arms supply. The shiptari succeeded because they took advantage of the turmoil whilst having access to weapons and a major foreign sponsor.

[Onur]

Serbian chauvinism orchestrated predominantly by Milosevic created a fertile environment to cast the serbs as pariahs, nobody in the Western world had sympathy for serbia during that period.

The serbs essentially destroyed themselves and in the process created a great deal of instability in Macedonia at a time when the world took pity on the 'plight' of the shiptari.

shiptar extremism correlates with the declining power of the serb and Macedonian states. If the wars in the former YU didn't suck the life out of serbia and Macedonia, the conditions for shiptar extremism would never have festered

Economic and political decline and uncertainty together with rabid serbian chauvinism created the 'perfect storm' that the shiptar movement was able to take advantage of...

I completely agree to that.

Serbs destroyed themselves and it was the Milosevic who leaded their destruction. They did their best to create more and more conflicts and started to kill Albanians, Bosnians for nothing. I mean what was the point of killing 100s muslims and throwing them to the lakes, dams? Is this the way for solution? Remember the word; Every action creates it`s counter-action.

NATO/West just searches for conflicts in anywhere in the world to be able to interfere to that. Sometimes they even encourage the creation of conflicts and Milosevic`s Serbia helped them a lot with their stupid actions.

[Big Bad Sven]

If one looks at the end result of the Yugoslav wars and dissolution of the federation, all 6 republics achieved independence. There are three major outstanding matters: Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. How do you think the issue of ethnic differences in Bosnia could have been settled? And how could the tendencies of Albanian separatists be quelled in Kosovo and Macedonia, given that their 'aspirations' predate the breakup of Yugoslavia?

I believe war in Bosnia was inevitable, there was no way 3 nationalistic peoples could decide on a fair outcome on how to divide the land. No one in bosnia wants to be in a "multi-ethnic" country. Even in the croat-muslim "federation" they hate each other. I personally think bosnia is a time bomb, it wont last.

In regards to serbia/kosovo i believe the option of working together with the shiptars is long gone, and the only way to settle on a solution is through war.

In regards to macedonia, looking back in the early days the macedonian government should have done something like what the russians did with Chechnya. Put in a Chechen government that is pro-russian and basically a russian puppet. Or how the Yugoslavs put pro Yugoslav albanians in charge of kosovo.
It would have been great if there was more effort to "hire" pro-macedonian albanians in the early days so that they could convince the radicals to integrate and also stop the neutral albanians from being poinsend with anti-macedonian propaganda, however im guessing the macedonian politicians at the time were working for foreign interests and also believed macedonia had no future.
But i fear that too much time has past and albanian nationalism is at a all time high in macedonia, and with outside forces like "kosovars" and Saudi's fueling anti-macedonian feelings i think today you would be lucky to find a albanian that is loyal towards macedonia.

I hate to say it but i think one day there will be another armed conflict between macedonians and albanians. Albanians have had so much disrespect and hatred towards macedonians for so long it has passed on to the next generation.