Serbia told EU candidate status possible in 2009

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said Serbia could be granted
EU candidate status in 2009. The EU has said it will wait for the chief UN war crimes prosecutor to report on whether Serbia is fully cooperating with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague before taking any further steps on Serbia’s aspirations.

Barroso said: “I believe that if everything goes according to plan and if all the conditions are met it will be possible to give candidate status to Serbia in 2009. Yes, I think it will be possible. But this is not a commitment.”

This followed talks in Brussels with Serbian President Boris Tadic. Belgrade had hoped the arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on July 21 would unfreeze proceedings towards EU membership. But Karadzic’s wartime general Ratko Mladic remains at large.

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