Serbia puts on a brave face after EU delay

(BELGRADE) - Serbia put on a brave face and its president vowed Friday that Belgrade will not give up on joining the EU after the bloc delayed granting it candidate member status.

"Serbia cannot and will not give up on its European future," President Boris Tadic said after the EU welcomed Croatia into the fold but held back Belgrade over its strained ties with Kosovo.

"Serbia belongs in Europe and any other solutions would have complex consequences," Tadic warned as Brussels delayed a decision on its candidate status until February.

Brussels has given the Serbian government several weeks to show the EU that it is serious in its efforts to improve relations with breakaway Kosovo following violent border clashes this year.

Tadic vowed that Serbia "will continue a dialogue with Pristina because the problem of Kosovo must be solved".

"Even if we gave up on the EU, the Kosovo problem would remain and by freezing it, we would not remove the problems and would make the lives of Kosovo Serbs less safe," Tadic said.

Serbia had hoped to win the status of EU candidate at this week's summit.

Neighbouring Montenegro, too, vowed Friday to stay the EU course.

Filip Vujanovic said his country would continue to "cooperate" with Brussels in order start negotiations for European Union membership.

EU leaders had decided that Montenegro, which obtained candidacy status last December, should wait to start accession talks until at least June 2012, while Brussels examines its progress on the fight against corruption and organised crime.

Describing the decision as "satisfying and encouraging," Vujanovic said Montenegro, a tiny Adriatic republic with a population of only 650,000, would do its best to "satisfy the necessary conditions".

Serbian opposition parties have described Brussels' decision as a blow to Tadic, calling on the government to resign and urging the president to call early elections.

"I am sorry that we did not get the candidacy but this government shows it is incapable of changing anything in the next couple of months," Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Progressive Party told Beta news agency.

Serbia's European Integration minister Bozidar Djelic kept a promise made in August and stepped down after the EU decision.

"I said I would resign if we didn't obtain candidacy and I am keeping my word," he said in Brussels.

Several dozen ultranationalists from the Serbian Radical party gathered outside the Serbian presidency, meanwhile, burning the EU flag and demanding a halt to Belgrade's EU integration process.

Serbia is due to organise elections in spring next year, with EU candidacy status central to Tadic's bid to stay in power.

Some observers believe that the timing of candidacy next March may work in his favour, being closer to the polls.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 but Belgrade still considers the territory to be a Serbian province.

New unrest on the tense north Kosovo border late last month, in which some 50 NATO peacekeepers were hurt along with scores of civilians, led a handful of EU nations, notably Germany, to demand further progress before allowing it to become an EU candidate.

burs-an/sb/mlr