European Union foreign ministers broke the ice with Serbia on Saturday, holding their first talks with Belgrade since most EU countries recognised Kosovo's declaration of independence. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic met counterparts from all 27 EU states for breakfast at the old Slovenian country estate of late Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito.
But left before the EU met other Western Balkans countries including Kosovo. "It was a very friendly, constructive discussion," Dimitrij Rupel, foreign minister of EU President Slovenia, told reporters afterwards. "Mr Jeremic of course complained a little bit, the Europeans complained a little bit, but in the end I think we said whatever we wanted to say."
Jeremic, an ally of pro-European President Boris Tadic, pleaded with the EU to agree to sign an agreement on closer ties with Serbia before a crucial May 11 election, which he said hard-line nationalists might otherwise win, diplomats said.
They said other EU foreign ministers put strong pressure on the Netherlands and Belgium to lift their veto on signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, imposed to insist on the prior handover of a key war crimes indictee.
The Dutch and Belgian ministers indicated they held firm to the principle but would rethink their position, diplomats said. Jeremic returned immediately to Belgrade to attend the launch of his pro-EU party's election campaign.
That meant he avoided crossing paths with Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who later joined ministers from Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania to discuss with the EU the entire region's path to membership of the bloc.
Underlining Belgrade's rejection of Kosovo secession as an illegal act without a UN mandate, Jeremic said he did not expect the EU to extend to Thaci the usual reception reserved for national leaders. "What is really important is that the representatives of the provisional institutions of self-governance from Kosovo participate in the international meeting exactly according to the rules prescribed by Security Council Resolution 1244," he told a news conference.
A Slovenian presidency official said the Kosovo delegation was officially seated under the aegis of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and its German head, Joachim Ruecker.
Asked if he was disappointed not to be at the table with Jeremic, Thaci told reporters on arrival: "Kosovo wants good relations with all our neighbours ... and we hope very soon we will have a good relationship with Serbia too."
For most EU ministers, the session with Jeremic was the first high-level contact with Serbia since it was angered by their acceptance of Kosovo's February 17 secession. Protesters torched several Western embassies in Belgrade.
Outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said this week Serbs should be ready to forgo EU membership for years and instead fight to reverse Kosovo's independence, which was endorsed by Washington and most EU member states.
Jeremic said Belgrade was moving closer to persuading the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia it was doing all it could to bring remaining fugitives to justice, as the EU has demanded in return for deepening ties.
"I am not going to discuss details of security efforts but I can assure you this at maximum level and can assure you we closer to solving this than we were before," he said. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has dangled the carrot of visa-free travel for Serbs in the hope of boosting Tadic's camp in Belgrade ahead of the May parliamentary election.
But Sweden's Carl Bildt said the step still faced obstacles within EU governments juggling their desire to boost the fortunes of Serb moderates with concerns over border security. "There is deep division in the EU on the issue," said Bildt. "Virtually all foreign ministers think we should do it and virtually all interior ministers are sceptical."