Serbia assured that Kosovo process won't be linked to EU accession

19/10/2007

PARIS, France -- The EU will not link efforts to resolve Kosovo's final status with Serbia's EU entry talks, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic in Paris on Thursday (October 18th). Kouchner acknowledged, however, that the EU accession process will be more difficult if Kosovo's status is not resolved. He repeated France's firm support for Serbia's EU entry.

Separately Thursday, Serbian President Boris Tadic said his country would never swap Kosovo for a potential speedier EU accession process, stressing that the status process and EU integration are two unrelated issues. Earlier this week, the EU foreign ministers postponed a decision on initialling a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia until the end of the month, in order to hear another assessment of Serbia's level of co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal. (Tanjug, RTS, Beta, Reuters -- 18/10/07)