Proposition 53K1788

Projet de loi portant assentiment à l'Accord de Stabilisation et d'Association entre les Communautés européennes et leurs Etats membres, d'une part, et la République de Serbie, d'autre part, et à l'Acte final, faits à Luxembourg le 29 avril 2008.

General information ¶

Submitted by

The Senate

Submission date

July 7, 2011

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

Serbia association agreement (EU) international agreement

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP ∉ Open Vld N-VA LDD MR VB

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Discussion ¶

Nov. 10, 2011 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mrs Christiane Vienne refers to her written report.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pity that Mrs. Vienne is not present here, as the text may or may have been transmitted by the Senate and the agreement may or may have been concluded in 2008, however it deserves our attention.

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Union and Serbia in 2008 was the first initiative to talk with Serbia about approaching Europe. In 2008, there was still a lot of turmoil: the Netherlands and Belgium, however, according to Karel De Gucht, were against and Spain and France were in favour. The Belgian chief prosecutor of the Yugoslav Tribunal, Mr. Brammertz, was also opposed; he has therefore in 2008 offered a lot of counterwork. Since then, much has changed: Serbia has arrested and extradited well-known war criminals.

Our group calls for vigilance and warns us not to be lighthearted about this. We are convinced that accession should be considered in the light of the current situation in Serbia. There cannot be an enlargement at this time; rather, one must look at the enlargement of European functioning. If Serbia is now approached as a candidate country, it must be taken into account that it does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state. This may not be required for accession to the European Union or a candidacy for accession to the European Union, but if one does not recognize the independence of neighboring countries, one can find it difficult to apply for accession.

In addition, there have been many serious and violent problems at the border posts with Kosovo, where Serbia does not even recognize the borders. Also economically, the country is ⁇ not ready to be a candidate country. We are not talking about anti-corruption measures.

My group will approve the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. It is a good thing for Serbia: it can give the country a positive incentive to develop and join Europe. However, we believe that the Chamber should follow the process of candidate country for Serbia.

I would like to reiterate my support for this bill. For us, it is a positive signal to be given both in political, socio-economic and geographical terms as well as in terms of integration. More than ever, a constructive approach to the enlargement of the European Union is needed, taking into account social, economic, cultural but also strategic and geopolitical challenges.

Serbia is an emerging country, led by a new leadership team. It is necessary to evaluate its evolution in a realistic way, taking into account the path already taken, and in particular the very pro-European and undisputed commitment of Mr. Trump. Tadić and his government.

Belgium must support any initiative to anchor Serbia in the European Union. This Stabilisation and Association Agreement is therefore an important and concrete step, while remaining vigilant with regard to certain internal and external developments in the country. Although the Belgian diplomacy must continue to defend the importance of conditionality in the process of enlargement of the European Union, this process of accession must also be based on the merit-based procedure, as the Minister in commission stressed.

In general, my colleagues, the candidate for membership must demonstrate that he has made sufficient progress in his organization, in terms of justice, freedom, and transparency. His membership will then become practically an obvious one. Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, Mr. Djelic, will be present here at the end of the month to make a point on the subject.

In addition, Serbia has collaborated with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Forty-five war criminals, including heads of state, including generals, out of forty-six, were delivered to the ICC. This led to the arrest of Mladić, Gotran Hadžić. This Stabilisation and Association Agreement should also encourage Serbia to make further progress towards a better organisation.

It is a pity that we have not had the same requirements for other states, I will not extend on this.

Similarly, the geographical context will be a key element in this accession procedure. This process, this cooperation, must encourage the country on the path it has taken, a fortiori at the time of Mr. Mr. Eurasian Union project. by Putin.

Finally, and no less importantly, regardless of the country concerned, the Neighbourhood Policy is obviously one of the criteria for assessment in the context of an accession procedure. Discussions between Serbia and Kosovo must ⁇ be strengthened and encouraged, in particular by the High Representative of the Union. But it should not be that recognition of Kosovo becomes a criterion, because then, what to do with member countries of the European Union, which, today, have not yet recognized Kosovo? Will we exclude them?

This Stabilisation and Association Agreement is intended to support Serbia’s development and encourage it to advance in the integration of the Community acquis so that it may one day become a member of the European Union by ensuring a broad support from its citizens.

It will also be, as I said in the committee, to consider the situation in the medium term, to take into account the fact that other political majorities could emerge in this country.

On this point, let us be very careful because, for the first time, a poll places the pro-European sentiment in a minority and strengthens nationalist formations, in particular that of Mr. Trump. Seselj is currently imprisoned in The Hague. You must know that the party of this gentleman still today constitutes the main political force in Serbia. It is therefore – I repeat it – to be very attentive and vigilant.

European integration must remain a signal as strong as positive, resolutely forward-looking, as it has been, in the past, for states that also came out of the dictatorship.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, also the Ecolo-Groen! group will today approve the draft.

This agreement is an important step towards Serbia’s EU membership. Nevertheless, we do not agree today to open the door for that membership. There is still a need for vigilance on a number of points.

If we can learn one thing from the ⁇ remarkable fact that Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic were finally extradited to the Criminal Court this year, it is the extraordinary range of opportunities offered by the advance to membership. The accession procedure, with all the conditions that may then be set, provides a unique opportunity to encourage countries to change their views and to take actions that they might otherwise make difficult. After all, we all know how difficult it is, once a country is a member of the club, so it is a member state, to still exert pressure to change its position on sensitive points. So let us take the bottom out of the can in the ongoing procedure.

As Ms. Dumery already noted, anti-corruption is also a very important topic. I would like to talk about the relationship with Kosovo.

We do not need a second Cyprus situation in the European Union. The conflict between Serbia and Kosovo must be resolved before an effective accession can be made.

Under pressure from the European Union, talks began in the spring of 2011. They stopped during the summer and restarted during the autumn. At the end of September 2011, however, they were cancelled by Serbia because Serbia did not agree on the agenda on Northern Kosovo.

Regarding North Kosovo, I do not need to tell you that yesterday there was another violent incident with the KFOR. This is a very problematic situation. This is a part of Kosovo, where the Kosovo authorities and even the KFOR do not exercise authority, and where parallel state structures exist and are supported by Serbia, which is an intolerable situation. Serbia should end its support for such an illegal situation. Serbia must cooperate to find a stable solution to the situation with Kosovo, which in our view needs to be resolved before it can transition to an effective membership. We sincerely hope that this will happen so soon, so that we too can fully support Serbia’s membership.

We therefore urge our government, during the steps towards Serbia’s EU membership, to continue to strive for a solution and to be vigilant in this regard.

As I said, however, there is nothing to do with the fact that we will approve the draft today. The arrest of Mladic and Hadzic is a very important step.