Serbia receives candidate status to the European Union

"The countries of the European Union have decided to grant Serbia candidate status", said the EU president, Herman Van Rompuy, after the first day of an EU summit on Thursday 1 in March. Here, MM. Van Rompuy and Tadic in Brussels. AFP / Georges Gobet

Serbia received Thursday, March ^1, more than two years after having knocked on the door of the EU, the coveted status of candidate for membership on the part of Brussels, anxious to reward Belgrade for its reconciliation efforts with the Kosovo and the arrest of Ratko Mladic .

"The countries of the European Union decided to grant the candidate status for Serbia ", said the EU president, Herman Van Rompuy, after the first day of an EU summit. It was unanimously of Twenty-Seven to give this precious document eagerly anticipated by the Serbian President Boris Tadic . "This is a historic step," said a European diplomat, recalling that there are thirteen years Serbia was the scene of the NATO bombing during the Kosovo war. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, that Belgrade refuses to recognize , but progress in bilateral relations were obtained under the direction of Brussels.

On his arrival in Brussels, Romanian President Traian Basescu , had removed the last doubts about the green light from the EU, by announcing that he raised his objection to the granting of status in Belgrade, a compromise was reached with Serbs. This particular agreement guarantees that the rights of the Romanian minority living in Serbia, estimated at some 30,000 people, are well protected. It also plans to ensure the fate of the Serb minority living in Romania. The defense of the Romanian minority in Serbia had been mooted by Tuesday Bucharest justify its objection. And Romania was the last EU country to have more reserves to the decision by Brussels.
The European Commission has committed his side to follow very closely "the implementation" of Serbian legislation protecting the rights of this minority, in the discussions to come to Belgrade. Candidate status formalized, the path is still long before Serbia joins the EU. Belgrade should expect now that the accession negotiations actually open, which will not necessarily be a formality, then they lead. In the best case, Serbia can expect to join the Union by the end of the decade.
From Belgrade, Tadic welcomed by recalling that "the citizens of Serbia have carried the heaviest burden of the reforms that our country is transformed into a democratic society in which human rights and minority rights are respected and European values ​​confirmed ". Since his election in June 2004, Mr. Tadic, a pro-European, has been constantly hanging up his country to the EU.