http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30334
EU confuses Serbian leaders who confuse Serbian people
ZELJKO PANTELIC
Today @ 09:33 CET
Serbian politicians often get contradictory messages from EU member states as well as officials and ambassadors in Belgrade about Serbia's European integration and the possibility of reopening discussions on Kosovo's status. Consequently, Serbia's public is baffled.
Top Serbian officials and some government-friendly NGO representatives often release information in the Serbian media on these subjects, asking journalists to quote them as sources from the EU, Brussels or international diplomatic circles.
The average Serbian news consumer can easily become confused by the divergence of messages in a single week.
One day he is told that Serbia is winning the diplomatic battle for Kosovo and progressing very well towards EU accession. The next day's headlines read that Kosovo independence is irreversible and that Serbia cannot enter the EU without recognising Kosovo's statehood. A day later the news may be that Serbia is far from EU integration because the EU is tired of enlargement, and that Serbia is learning lessons from Cyprus on how to join the Union without recognising Kosovo.
On day four the story could be that the diplomatic fight for Kosovo is very difficult because Pristina is backed by the most powerful countries in the world, and that Serbia is well prepared for EU integration, but its bid is being blocked by Germany and the Netherlands, for no clear reasons.
A day later again headlines foresee an imminent reopening of Kosovo status negotiations after the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and that Serbia's EU application will be passed to the European Commission at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers. On day six the news is that Belgrade-Pristina negotiations may only concern technical issues, not the status of Kosovo, and that the EU has adopted a gradual approach towards European integration, meaning no big steps on Serbia's European agenda in the near future.
After the last foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, Italian minister Franco Frattini said the Serbian application for membership had not been passed to the Commission because his German colleague first needed an opinion from parliament.
A German diplomat, meanwhile, said it was not just Germany but that a big majority of EU members opposed the passing of Serbia's application "because most EU member states apply the step-by-step approach in their enlargement policy."
Ambassadors to Belgrade from some member states also release confusing statements. Unlike in EU countries, where few people know the names of ambassadors from other member states, or from Russia and the US, foreign diplomats in Serbia are like pop stars. They are interviewed by newspapers or appear on national television on a daily basis. Some of them insist there is no link between the Kosovo issue and Serbia's European integration. Others assert the opposite. Some EU ambassadors even contradict themselves, saying completely different things in the course of just a few days.
"If Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos says, as he did at the last Council of ministers, that Serbia is very constructive on the Kosovo issue and the participation of Kosovo in regional co-operation, we can just imagine what he said to his Serbian colleague," a participant in the last meeting of EU foreign ministers told WAZ.EUobserver on the condition of anonymity.
"It is quite understandable that Serbia's top officials are more eager to believe what Moratinos tells them, than to listen to the warnings of [French foreign minister] Kouchner, [German foreign minister] Westerwelle or [British foreign minister] Hague. We are not able to speak with one voice to Belgrade and that is why Kosovo is becoming a frozen issue and Serbia is going to be very slow on the European path," the contact continued.
An EU diplomat said there is a high risk the Union blocks both Serbia and Kosovo's European integration.
"I am afraid leaders in Belgrade and Pristina do not understand that if they want to move ahead on the European path, it is not important how many countries support you, but whether there is consensus in the EU or not. In other words, you need all EU countries on your side. To stop you or to slow you down, just one member state is sufficient," the diplomat noted.
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