Johannes Hahn: No new conditions should be imposed on Serbia

Johannes Hahn: No new conditions should be imposed on Serbia

Johannes Hahn has urged the members of the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg not to impose new conditions on Serbia in the country's EU accession process.

"It is important that no new conditions are set for Serbia," the EU commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations said late on Tuesday.

He was commenting on an amendment by the European People's Party, proposed by Croatian MEPs, that wants Serbia to "review a law that gives the special court in Belgrade jurisdiction to try war crimes committed across the former Yugoslavia."

The issue of war crimes is a sensitive topic, but unbiased trials that are in line with European standards are much more important than the issue of jurisdiction, Hahn said.

The amendment was the subject of a "fierce" debate during last night's plenary meeting on a resolution on Serbia, which will be put up for a vote on Wednesday.
 

Andrej Plenkovic, EPP MEP from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), said that the Serbian Law on War Crimes "introduces legal uncertainty among Croatian citizens and other EU member states" and mentioned the case of Veljko Maric, who was sentenced in Serbia for war crimes against civilians committed during Operation Storm.

MEP from Austrian Greens Ulrike Lunacek responded by saying that "the contentious law" was passed in 2003 and that the trial against Maric was conducted in cooperation with the Croatian State Prosecutor's Office.

Social Democrats MEP Tanja Fajon urged parliament to reject the amendment, arguing that it concerns a bilateral issue that should not be raised to the European level.

"This parliament should...