World Mar. 30, 2008 - 03:08AM JST ( 1 )

BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia —

Serbia’s foreign minister on Saturday urged his EU counterparts to swiftly sign a rapprochement accord to help avert a nationalist victory in upcoming national elections.
Vuk Jeremic told the EU foreign ministers in Slovenia that though he sees Serbia’s future within the EU, Belgrade still remains firmly opposed to independence for Kosovo.

The friendly approach to the EU but an implacable stance on Kosovo highlighted the tough task the pro-European lobby has in appealing to the electorate ahead of the May elections.

The EU and Serbia have initialed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step to membership, but Belgium and the Netherlands have blocked its signing.

“Despite all differences with the EU, we remain committed to the path of European integration,” Jeremic said on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brdo, near the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

“In a few years Serbia is going to become a member of the EU ... maybe four, five or six years,” he added, while insisting that Serbia would continue its “diplomatic fight” in order to “preserve our territorial integrity.”

He also underlined that Serbia would maintain its policy of recalling ambassadors from nations which recognize Kosovo.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, told a press conference after the talks that Jeremic, when asked how the Europeans could help Serbia, replied that the pro-European forces in Serbia would be glad to see a quick signing of the SAA.

For several months, most EU nations have been in favor of signing an association accord with Serbia.

However, the Dutch and Belgian foreign ministers repeated at the talks in Slovenia that Belgrade should first help bring former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, one of the most wanted men in Europe, to the UN war crimes tribunal.

European diplomats said the Serbian minister had little room for political maneuvering ahead of the general election on May 11.

Belgrade considers mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo to be one of its cultural heartlands.

Eighteen of the 27 EU nations have already recognized Kosovo’s independence, while European leaders stress that all of the western Balkans—including Serbia and Kosovo—have an eventual home in the bloc.

Jeremic narrowly avoided meeting Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci—also invited for talks on the Balkans—thereby dashing EU presidency hopes for a landmark get-together.

It was nonetheless an ice-breaker between Serbia and the European nations, being the first such high-level meeting since Kosovo declared independence on Feb 27.

The EU foreign ministers, on the second and final day of talks in Brdo, had invited western Balkans foreign ministers and Thaci—the prime mover in Kosovo’s independence bid—for talks on the region.

Serbian President Boris Tadic dissolved parliament last month and called early elections for May 11, after the ruling coalition collapsed in a rift over ties with the EU and Kosovo’s independence.

The European Union fears a victory of the nationalist forces led by outgoing hardline Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica could reverse the progress towards EU integration made by Serbia over the last years and hamper stability in the region.

AFP