Appeasing Serbia

The West has opted for a softer approach towards Serbia, admitting it to NATO's Partnership for Peace in December 2006, and now allowing it to lead the Council of Europe for six months. But this will do little to strengthen democratic forces in Serbia--and much to strengthen the position of hard-liners who refuse to hand over indicted war criminals.

This month has been a bad one for the cause of human rights in Europe, as Serbia was allowed to begin its six-month presidency of the Council of Europe, the Continent’s oldest political body. With Serbia at the helm, the Council, which aims to promote human rights and the rule of law, is now overseen by a state that thumbs its nose at the Genocide Convention and harbors an indicted war crimes suspect, former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic. Moreover, the European Commission has indicated that it is ready to resume talks aimed at bringing Serbia closer to the European Union as soon as a reform-oriented government is formed in Belgrade.

Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Serbia guilty of failing to prevent the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica. The Court also declared that Serbia will remain in violation of the Genocide Convention until it transfers Mladic—who is believed responsible for some of the worst crimes in Europe since the Second World War—to the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

But the EU seems ready to ignore Serbia’s disdain for international law. The EU is understandably eager to support a pro-European government in Serbia, for this might pave the way for Serbia to swallow the prospect of Kosovo’s independence. That explains why some EU member states are keen to resume the negotiations on a Stabilization and Association Agreement, which were suspended a year ago due to Serbia’s failure to cooperate fully with the ICTY. The proposed u-turn by the EU means that Mladic’s arrest and transfer to The Hague is no longer a condition for restarting talks.

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