Italy urges EU's immediate support to Serbia, not to wait for Kosovo deal
(BRDO PRI KRANJU) - Italy urged the European Union Monday to give Belgrade its political and economic attention immediately without waiting for a solution on the future status of Kosovo.
"We (the EU) need to act quickly and have to show Serbia immediately that we give it great political and economic attention," Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told a joint news conference with his Slovenian counterpart Janez Jansa.
He added, "Serbia is now undergoing a very tough historical moment due to the Kosovo problem. We have to prove Serbia is not alone, we are dealing here with the whole European Union's nature and concept."
Officials from Serbia and Kosovo are in last-ditch negotiations, due to wrap up by December 10, to settle the future status of the province, which technically is still part of Serbia but has been run by the United Nations since 1999.
They are being supervised by an international troika of Russia, the United States and, for the first time in such a format, the entire 27-country EU.
"I pledge for a project of economic development and immediate attention to Serbia precisely because the problem that we will be facing (over Kosovo) over the next months is very complicated," Prodi said.
Jansa backed Prodi's initiative and added that Slovenia "supports every initiative aimed at giving incentives to Serbia on its European (Union) path."
"I believe it would be important that these initiatives (of political and economic support to Serbia) are not linked to the solution of the Kosovo status problem," Jansa said.
Slovenia will be the first of the latest EU members to assume the bloc's rotating presidency next January and has put further enlargement of the EU as one of its priorities.
While Slovenia joined the European Union in 2004 and Croatia is currently holding accession talks, Serbia's EU bid has been delayed by the poor cooperation of the Belgrade authorities with the UN's tribunal in The Hague investigating war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
"But the latest reports are rather favourable for Serbia so that we will soon be able to conclude that most of the conditions (for EU accession talks to start) have been met and that chances are coming for Serbia's EU perspective to get closer," Jansa said.
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