| Romania Imposes Conditions on Serbia’s EU Accession |
| (2012-02-29) |
| Last updated: 2012-03-01 13:01 EET |
Authorities in Bucharest invoked the political standards set by the European Council in December 1993 in Copenhagen, stating that a candidate country must have stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, a rule of law, the observation of human rights and the protection of its minorities.
At the meeting in Brussels, Romania’s foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu said the country expects additional guarantees from Belgrade that the ethnic, linguistic and religious identities of all minorities in Serbia, including the Romanian one, would be respected.
Cristian Diaconescu: “As regards minority rights, as an integral part of the EU accession criteria and in bilateral relations with Romania, and other countries as well, Serbia needs to bring a new series of arguments. We are not placing conditions, but rather drawing attention to the importance of this matter. It is mentioned in the Council’s decisions, including the signature of a priority protocol for minorities in Romania and Serbia, and the involvement of the Commission and the OSCE’s High Commissioner on National Minorities in monitoring this process.”
In turn, Serbia’s president Boris Tadic said that his country meets all the criteria set in Copenhagen and would not accept demands that do not comply with these. The Romanian community in Serbia numbers some 250,000 people. Most live in the Timoc Valley in the east and Vojvodina in the north. Romanians living in the Timoc Valley, also known as Vlachs, do not benefit from special rights as a national minority, such as education or cultural and religious services in the native tongue.
On the other hand, Romanians in Vojvodina have been officially recognized since the communist days of former Yugoslavia, and benefit from public education and TV and radio programs in the Romanian language. A Romanian Orthodox bishopric was founded in 2001, and was recognized by the Serbian Ministry for Religious Denominations in 2009. It only administers Romanian parishes in Vojvodina. The final decision on granting Serbia the status of official candidate will come from EU heads of state and government, meeting Thursday and Friday in Brussels.
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2025-04-03
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