The day after EU officials made the decision to grant Serbia candidate status for EU membership, Danish Minister for European Affairs Nikolai Wammen arrived to our capital. He asked his staff to cancel all appointments scheduled for that day and to enable him to “pop” to Belgrade only for an hour so that he could personally congratulate the local politicians, but also on behalf of Denmark which is currently presiding over the EU. If it is known that Wammen also visited Belgrade seven days before the EU decision to ensure that all requirements set in December have been fulfilled, but also to encourage the Serbian leadership to persevere, then we can freely say that the Danish diplomat played a significant role in the recent events. In an exclusive interview with “Novi Magazin” he evaluates the efforts of Serbia, gives the prediction of how things will develop further and repeats that Serbia belongs to the European family of nations.
Serbia was granted the candidate status in which you and Denmark had a very important role. How do you see the advance so far?
Denmark strongly supports the EU enlargement policy and the integration of Serbia into the EU. Therefore it was up to me, as the President of the Council dealing with the expansion, to do the best I could so the Council would make a positive decision. But, that involves some more important things. I really believe that Serbia has chosen well when she decided to integrate the EU and I know it has achieved a lot on its way towards the EU. As you know, I visited Belgrade a week before the Council session at which we recommended granting the candidate status to Serbia. I wanted to support the efforts of the Serbian Government on EU integration. But I also wanted to make sure that Serbia has done all that was necessary to fulfill the criteria set in December. As soon as it became clear that the dialogue with Pristina made progress, the Council was able to reach the decision to grant the candidate status to Serbia. I am really very glad that everything ended that way.
You decided to come to Belgrade a day after we were granted the candidate status. What were the reactions of people you have met?
It is important for me to emphasize that it was a day for celebration not only in Serbia, but in the EU as well. Enlargement policy is without a doubt the most successful EU policy. As with all other matters related to the EU, it is also a technical process and there is sometimes a tendency to focus only on the criteria to be met and problems to be solved, and to forget that the enlargement and the issue of hope and legitimate aspirations of people who want a stable future is within the European Union. In this respect, March 1st was a truly defining moment. This date opened a new chapter in the relations between Serbia and the EU. As I said at the National Council for European relations: ‘Welcome home’. It was nice to see EU flags along with Serbian on buildings and streets on that day.
Some believe that the decision not to grant us the candidate status in December was wrong. What do you think?
The negative decision in December led to understandable frustrations. But December is past, and now is the future. Serbia is a candidate now, and this is not a small thing. It is essential for foreign companies when considering whether to invest in Serbia to know that this country is a candidate.
How would you rate everything that Serbia has done after the European meeting in December?
Serbia has done a lot, no doubt. The same can be said for Pristina, which is also actively involved in the dialogue. It was necessary for both sides that this dialogue has some concrete results and both sides have worked hard to find a solution for a large number of unresolved issues. During the past month Serbian government has shown that it is committed to its main foreign policy objective – the EU integration process – and that it is ready to make difficult compromises necessary to achieve this priority.
The next step is to determine the date of nomination. Are you an optimist and do you believe that Serbia is ready to fulfill all the requirements?
The next step will be the start of accession negotiations. Usually the decision to begin negotiations is brought upon the Commission’s recommendation in the progress report. The next report is expected in October and I sincerely hope that the decision to start accession negotiations can be brought before the end of 2012. Given the current ambitious and realistic policy, I hope that the dialogue with Pristina will continue to bring positive results which will be in the interest of both Serbia and Kosovo, not only Serbs living in Kosovo. This will be the main matter of the Council when deciding on the commencement of accession negotiations. It is certain that the hard work is ahead of you, but I am convinced that Serbian government will continue with its determination in this regard and that Serbia is firmly positioned on the road to full EU membership.