EU membership goal clarified under Balkan pressure
MARK BEUNDERMAN
11.03.2006 @ 16:36 CET
EUOBSERVER / SALZBURG - The EU has explicitly committed itself to "EU membership as ultimate goal" for the Western Balkans in an statement by foreign ministers in Salzburg, Austria on Saturday (11 March) after overnight pressure by five Western Balkan countries to strengthen the wording of an earlier draft.
Salzburg - ministers heard shortly before lunch that Mr Milosevic had died (Photo: Salzburg Panorama)
The statement was issued jointly by the 25 foreign ministers of the EU, its three candidate countries (Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia) and the foreign ministers of the other western Balkan countries hoping to join the union (Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania).
An earlier draft of the statement circulating on Friday had avoided the term "membership" while confirming the EU accession goal in more general terms.
The more explicit wording was seen by Western Balkan diplomats as crucial at a time when the EU public is suffering from enlargement fatigue and Brussels is mooting alternatives to membership, such as "privileged partnerships", for Turkey and Ukraine.
The final statement says "all [Western Balkans states] have in the last year made significant steps along their road towards the EU, with EU membership as ultimate goal."
"The EU confirms that the future of the western Balkans lies in the European Union," it adds.
Paris and the Hague put a break
But Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro lost the battle to remove the term "absorption capacity" from the final text.
"The EU also notes that its absorption capacity has to be taken into account," the statement reads, referring to the union's own capacity to welcome new members.
Bosnian foreign minister Mladen Ivanic told EUobserver "We are not happy with that," but added "it is the reality in the EU."
France and the Netherlands strongly insisted on keeping absorption capacity paragraph, with the Paris and The Hague seeing perceptions of uncontrolled enlargement as a key reason why their citizens voted down the EU constitution in referendums last year.
French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters "we cannot act as if the people do not exist…we must not rush headlong into enlargement."
His Dutch counterpart Bernard Bot indicated "We should not go too fast, we should pay attention to our public opinion," adding that a "very long process" lies ahead.
Kosovo independence
Paris and The Hague also distanced themselves from remarks on Kosovo made by UK foreign minister, Jack Straw, who said in Salzburg on Friday that Kosovo's path to independence from Serbia was "almost inevitable."
Asked by reporters about the Straw comment, Mr Douste-Blazy suggested that it might interfere with the work of UN envoy Marti Ahtisaari, who is currently chairing talks between Serbs and Kosovan Albanians on the final status of the UN-administered territory.
"Mr Ahtisaari is one of the best negotiators I know…one should respect the negotiations and not prejudge the result of the talks," the French minister said.
Mr Bot referred to EU standards on the rights of the Serb minority in Kosovo, remarking "We should ensure the standards are met before discussing the status."
The reactions to Mr Straw's remarks highlight EU member states' difficulties in sticking to a common approach on the complex and delicate Kosovo problem.
Death of Milosevic
At the height of the Balkans discussion on Saturday lunchtime, ministers heard that former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic had died in his cell at the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Netherlands.
"Today, Saturday, March 11, Slobodan Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit in Scheveningen," said a statement by the UN court.
Ursula Plassnik, the foreign minister of Austria which holds the EU presidency, reacted by saying "This does not change or alter in any way the need to come to terms with the past, with the legacy of which Slobodan Milosevic has been a part."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana indicated "I hope very much this event, the death of Milosevic will help Serbia to look definitely to the future."
