Serb Nationalists Slam EU Deal ‘Traitors’

Belgrade _ Serbian nationalist parties have condemned pro-European leaders as ‘traitors’ for signing a key EU deal.

“We are telling (Serbian President) Boris Tadic that his autograph is not Serbia’s signature but that he is putting his party’s Judas’s seal on (European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier) Solana’s deal,” Andrija Mladenovic, the spokesman for outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS, told Serbia’s state-owned Tanjug news agency.

Another DSS official, Education Minister Zoran Loncar said “we reject this Judas stamp… Solana will not rule Serbia,” he said, adding that a new government and a new parliament will annul the signature immediately after elections.

Officials from the nationalist Serbian Radical Party, SRS, said their party will demand a no-confidence vote in Tadic and then, sue him for treason.

President Boris Tadic and Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic joined Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, in Luxembourg for the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, the deal widely seen as the first step towards EU membership. All three are leading figures in the pro-European Democratic Party.

Earlier on Tuesday the EU decided to sign the SAA with Serbia in a bid to strengthen pro-European parties ahead of a crucial poll that will pit them against nationalist parties on issues such as how to proceed with EU integration since most member states have recognised the independence of Serbia’s former southern province, Kosovo. Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/9742/

However, according to reports from Luxembourg, the SAA will be practically frozen immediately after Djelic signs it on behalf of Belgrade because Serbia will also be asked to sign an accompanying document that will condition its further EU integration to full cooperation with The Hague War Crimes Tribunal.

This is to meet Dutch and Belgian concerns that Serbia must do more to arrest key war crimes fugitives from the 1990s Balkan Wars before it can reap full benefits of the agreement.

The EU Foreign Ministers’ Council will, therefore, closely watch Serbia’s further cooperation with the tribunal.

“The ratification and the implementation will begin when the Council decides that Serbia is fully cooperating with The Hague Tribunal,” Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bart Rijs said.

On Monday Kostunica said the signing of the SAA signing would be an unconstitutional act, “which would mean that Serbia recognises Kosovo.”

EU officials have reiterated that the SAA, which Serbia initialled last year, does not deal with the Kosovo’s status and that article 135 of the text recognises the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, which put the then Serbian province of Kosovo under UN administration following the 1998-1999 conflict.