Serbia to submit bid to join EU

Serbia will apply to join the European Union tomorrow, hoping that improving relations with the bloc will open a fast track for its candidacy by the end of 2010.

The Balkan country of around 8m people – still weighed down by the legacy of the 1990s wars – seeks EU candidate status despite lingering questions about its co-operation with the United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

But a largely positive report from UN prosecutors earlier this month has brought greater flexibility, even from the most sceptical EU members.

“We see new momentum and would like this to continue,” said Bozidar Djelic, Serbia’s deputy prime minister. “By making our application now, we will unequivocally demonstrate the central strategic goal of Serbia is to join the EU and nothing else.”

Economic stabilisation and the successful busting of Balkan drug-trafficking networks have also boosted Belgrade’s credibility nearly a decade after the overthrow of wartime leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Boris Tadic, president and main pro-EU party leader, said: “No one can doubt the road that Serbia has taken. Serbia is going towards European integration.” *Low-cost airlines are lining up to add Belgrade and other Serbian airports to their routes after the EU relaxed visa rules for three ex-Yugoslav republics at the weekend.

Citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia will now be able to visit much of the EU without a visa.