Marta Kos: EU to Consider if Serbia’s European Ambition Is True

Marta Kos (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos stated on Sept. 10 that, after the funeral in Belgrade with state honors of Ratko Mladic, convicted of genocide and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the officials of the European Union had to clarify the very important question of whether Serbia was still suitable as a candidate country.

“Serbia is at a crossroads. You know that the accession process also demands facing with the past, true reconciliation. It is also about the rule of law and the strategic orientation of a country. We must check the measure in which Serbia is still true with its European path,” Kos stated in an interview to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

To the question about who in the EU should determine that, Kos replied that she would first discuss this with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Our report about the Union’s readiness for new members will be completed at the end of September and can then serve as a very good basis for discussion by the Council of the EU in October,” Kos said.

She went on to say that she was “ready to try everything for Serbia to stay on the European path,” but that this was “in Serbian hands, not only of politicians, but the population, too” and that the elections in Serbia were forthcoming.