Dutch face defeat in row over Serbia

Netherlands wants Serbian membership bid delayed to wait for war-crimes court report due in November.

Uri Rosenthal, the new foreign minister of the Netherlands, is facing diplomatic defeat at his first meeting with his European Union counterparts next week over Serbia’s application to join the EU. 

All member states except the Netherlands want to refer Serbia’s application to the European Commission for its opinion, a crucial step before candidate status is granted. But the Dutch parliament has instructed Rosenthal, a member of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, to delay the referral until a United Nations war-crimes tribunal reports on Serbia’s co-operation in November.

The Dutch believe that a referral in October would undermine the EU’s leverage over Serbia on the arrest of the last two fugitives wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

Diplomats from the Netherlands and Belgium, the current holder of the rotating presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers, are seeking to avert a vote on the matter when the foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg on Monday (25 October).

A vote would be unprecedented: until now, all decisions on prospective candidate countries have been taken by consensus because of the political sensitivity of EU enlargement. Several member states – including Belgium – are reluctant to break with that precedent but are eager to advance Serbia’s application.

Others argue that the referral is a technical matter subject to majority voting. A spokesperson for the Belgian government said there were “intense high-level contacts with our Dutch colleagues” and they were hoping for “a constructive outcome on the matter” at the ministers’ meeting.

A diplomat suggested that the compromise solution was likely to involve a referral of Serbia’s application with Dutch backing but with a declaration that each subsequent step – such as granting candidate status – will be tied to Serbia’s full co-operation with the ICTY.

The office of the ICTY prosecutor fears that such a move will mean it will lose all leverage over Serbia until well into the second half of next year, when the Commission is expected to deliver its opinion.

Should no solution be found and member states shy away from majority voting, the matter could be referred to the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week (28-29 October).

In addition to Serbia’s membership application, Monday morning’s General Affairs Council – chaired by Steven Vanackere, Belgium’s foreign minister – will also finalise preparations for the European Council.

New procedure

The foreign ministers will also discuss forthcoming summits – with the United States, Ukraine and African countries in November, and with Russia and India in December.

Following a new procedure adopted by EU leaders in September, the European Council is to define the EU’s main message for the first of these summits, to be held on 20 November with the US.

The foreign ministers will also have short debates on Georgia and Cuba, with Spain’s initiative to restore normal relations with the latter unlikely to find many backers.

The ministers will also issue a statement about Bosnia and Herzegovina following a general election on 3 October.

Other items on the agenda for the afternoon are an update on the Middle East peace process and on the EU’s neighbourhood policy.

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