EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The signing of the SAA with Serbia will guarantee a framework within which civil society, democratic political forces and economic reform can effectively operate.
2. Postponing signing the SAA would only play into the hands of conservative and nationalistic forces that are leading the country toward isolation and away from the rule of law and accountability.
3. The EU should therefore sign the SAA with Serbia as soon as possible.
4. To ensure the SAA's implementation and to keep all pro-European forces mobilised, the EU should maintain intensive and permanent dialogue with Serbia.
Belgrade, 18 January 2008
To the Governments of the EU Member States
To the President of the EU Commission
To the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security
To the Commissioner for Enlargement
Your Excellencies,
We, the undersigned non-governmental organizations, welcome the latest efforts of the majority of the EU member states, and particularly of Slovenia, acting as a president of the European Union, aimed at acceleration of Serbia’s rapprochement to the EU by signing the SAA agreement. We strongly believe that at the present state of affairs this approach is the only course of action that stands a chance of keeping European prospects for Serbia open and preventing non- and quasi-democratic forces from once again isolating the country.
This is why we call upon the European Union to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Serbia as soon as possible.
Serbia needs a framework within which civil society, truly democratic political forces and the business community striving for free market economy and elimination all types of monopolies in Serbia, can effectively operate to move the country and its people towards irreversible democratic developments. The signing of the SAA will insure this framework because bringing Serbia closer to the EU is a matter of consolidation of democratic changes it went through. The SAA can also encourage and promote new coalitions within Serbian political structures that will speed up the Europeanization of the Serbian social, political, economic and legal space.
Without clear and open pro-European developmental prospects Serbia, after twenty years of radical nationalism, runs the risk to remain blocked society and the country mired in the past. Serbia’s future is in Europe – that is what 70% of the population believes. But its political class and elites are incapable of taking stock of the new reality and directing the country on the path to EU integration. Pro-European forces among them need support and strong backing of the EU in order to strengthen their position. In terms of the wider region, Serbia’s present-day anti-European policy could obstruct the democratic stabilization of the Western Balkans and the entire region’s integration into European processes.
We believe that any postponement in signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Serbia would only play into the hands of its conservative and nationalistic forces which are leading the country towards self-isolation and away from the rule of law and accountability. In an attempt to protect their interests, those forces – the parties of the political right and “old” structures – would do anything to prevent Serbia from taking a genuinely European course.
We wish to emphasize that Serbia still has an obligation to fully and unconditionally cooperate with the ICTY and that the signing of the SAA does not change that obligation. On the contrary, we remain resolute that all crimes must be punished and that Serbia must bear its part of the responsibility for its role in the wars of the 1990s. We expect the European Union and the international community to continue pressuring the Serbian government to fully cooperate with The Hague Tribunal. We also expect that further Europeanization of Serbia will help to create a climate of accountability within the country.
However, given that all other possibilities to influence positive developments in Serbia have been exhausted, we believe that an early signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement would create favorable conditions for strengthening the country’s pro-European forces on the one hand and lead to a gradual marginalization of anti-European ones on the other. Such a decision by the European Union would be crucial now, on the eve of the resolution of the Kosovo status and the presidential elections in Serbia.
To secure the full implementation of the SAA and keep all pro-European forces mobilized the EU should maintain intensive and permanent dialogue with Serbia that will include civil society, associations of small and medium businesses, professional associations and all pro-European political parties.
For these reasons, we, the undersigned non-governmental organizations, appeal to the Governments of the EU Member States to give their vote to signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Serbia as soon as possible.
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Belgrade
Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights /YUCOM/, Belgrade
Women in Black, Belgrade
Center for Cultural Decontamination, Belgrade
European Movement in Serbia, Belgrade
Civic Initiatives, Belgrade
Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Belgrade
Fund for an Open Society in Serbia, Belgrade
Citizen’s Forum, Stara Pazova
Vojvodina’s Center for Human Rights
Center for Development of Civil Society, Zrenjanin
Center for Regionalism, Novi Sad
Sandzak Intellectual Circle, Novi Pazar
Sandzak Committee for Human Rights and Freedom, Novi Pazar
Otvoreni Licej, Sombor
Association of Independent Journalists of Serbia, Belgrade
Association of Independent Journalists of Vojvodina, Novi Sad
Alliance for Local Communities Sustainable Development, Belgrade
MICRO-Center Serbia, Center for Microcrediting, Belgrade