CDU:Contract With Pristina Is Condition For Talks With EU
Germany will demand that Serbia sign a binding contract with Pristina on establishing good neighborly relations, before the start of accession negotiations with the EU, a high representative of the ruling German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Andreas Schockenhoff, stated in Belgrade on Sept. 13.
(KosovoCompromiseStuff) Friday, September 14, 2012
Speaking at a news conference at the Media Center, Schockenhoff pointed out that his party in the Bundestag will insist on Germany taking the stand that the contract between Belgrade and Pristina is in written form, and that all the details of this contract are fully implemented by the end of the association process with the EU.
He called on Belgrade to "actively influence" abolishing the parallel structures and the security apparatus in northern Kosovo, and their financing, saying that Belgrade's annual contribution to the north of Kosovo, according to information obtained by Germany, "is greater than what Serbia receives from the EU."
Schockenhoff said that his caucus in the German parliament will insist on the seven conditions Serbia has to fulfill before the start of membership negotiations with the EU. Among the conditions is visible progress in finding out what happened in Belgrade in 2008, when a fire was planted in the German Embassy as a sign of protest.
Schockenhoff added that the demands he presented on Sept. 13 were not new and that his hosts in Belgrade were not surprised.
