Serbia may have to wait until 2012 for EU candidate status

Serbia's aim to get EU candidate status next year and to open accession talks in 2012 is facing difficulties, as the country's political leaders seem to have underestimated three important elements when calculating the timetable.

The first is that the Kosovo issue is no longer a card that can be played if the country wants to get further on the EU path. The second is that the time for the pro-European government to arrest indicted war criminal, general Ratko Mladic, accused of genocide ...