Belgrade Violence Shakes EU Convictions

Following violent protests in Belgrade over Kosovo independence, European Union officials today, February 22, froze talks with Serbia on closer ties until the situation “calms down” - but analysts wonder whether the damage done to relations with the West is now irreparable.



Around 200,000 protesters gathered on February 21 in Serbia’s capital at a rally organised by the authorities to show that Serbia does not accept Kosovo Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence, proclaimed on February 17.



But the gathering turned violent when a number of protesters - angered by western recognition of Kosovo’s independence - attacked several embassies in Belgrade, including those of the Americans and British.



According to the broadcaster B92, around 150 demonstrators were injured when they clashed with police, with one protester reportedly found dead in a blaze at the American embassy.



In response to this eruption of violence, European governments have put on hold all talks with Serbia over its membership of the EU.



Shortly after the protest in Belgrade, the EU‘s foreign policy chief Javier Solana announced that there would be no further talks until the tense situation in Serbia eases. In a press release issued on February 22, Solana said that “the violence in Belgrade and the attacks on embassies there yesterday evening are totally unacceptable. Violence can lead nowhere. We call for calm, restraint and responsible

behaviour by all parties."



Addressing the reporters in Brussels, Solana pointed out that this is not the right moment to continue talks on building an agreement between the EU and Serbia.



"We are not at this very moment trying to move that on," he said, adding that “things will have to calm down” before the next move is made.



The EU's enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, who has been leading difficult negotiations aimed at raising Serbia's prospects of joining the EU, strongly condemned the outbreak of violence.



“We respect the democratic right of the Serbian people to voice their opinion on developments in Kosovo, but the use of violence for expressing one's opinion is unacceptable," he said.



"We urge all Serbian politicians to call for restraint and avoid statements that could further inflame the situation."



Only a few weeks ago, Serbia seemed very close to signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreements, SAA, which is the first step towards full membership of the 27-member union.



However, since it failed to meet the main pre-condition for signing the agreement – the arrest of the Hague tribunal’s top fugitive Ratko Mladic – the EU decided to wait a bit more and offered a potentially lucrative economic deal instead. The deal, presented to Serbia on January 28, included free trade with EU member countries and liberalised visa restrictions.



But Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence last week and the presidential election run-off on February 3, which president Boris Tadic won by narrow margin, have meant that Belgrade has been less concerned with the EU than events in its own backyard.



Soon after Pristina’s declaration, the United States, Britain, France and many other European countries recognised Kosovo as an independent state, sparking a wave of protests in Serbia, which culminated in the February 21 unrest.



President Tadic, who was on a visit to Romania at the time of the protests, said he did not intend to let Serbia cut itself off from the rest of the world. He reaffirmed the position that Serbia does not recognise Kosovo, but still seeks a European future.



"We will never falter and we will never surrender. We will continue our struggle in a peaceful manner, with a well-defined strategic plan and we will protect our interests," said Tadic.



However, the damage to Serbia’s relations with the western world has been done, and many observers wonder whether it is irreparable.



Spomenka Grujicic, Program Director of the Helsinki Committee in Belgrade, thinks this largely depends on the position the country’s leaders take, especially President Tadic.



“Serbia will have to decide which way to go,” she said. “The biggest responsibility is on the Democratic Party, whose leader [Tadic] won the presidential elections because of his pro-European option. Now people expect him to speak up and say we would never accept [the outcome of] this rally in Belgrade.”



James Lyon from the International Crisis Group doesn’t put too much hope in Tadic, because “he has almost no power whatsoever”.



“This is something the EU hasn't sat back and really thought through. They keep putting all their eggs in the Tadic basket and he is unable to deliver because he doesn't have the constitutional power to do so,” he said.



He adds that the main problem is that although polls in Serbia show that 70 per cent of people want to join the EU, when they are asked to choose between a European future and Kosovo, “well over 50 per cent say they are in favour of choosing Kosovo over the EU.



“This is something that the EU is simply trying to gloss over.



“The EU's ideology is that the joys of EU membership are sufficiently strong to outweigh any nationalist programmes that may be out there and EU membership will be in itself sufficient to generate change in this part of the world, in the Balkans, because everyone will be dying to make changes.



“But this isn't the case. People here have shown that as long as national interests are unresolved, EU integration does not have the power to act as a magnet or a carrot to generate change.”



Merdijana Sadovic is IWPR’s Hague programme manager and Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.