The election of Milosevic’s ally shows Serbia hasn’t changed enough, says janine di giovanni |
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Am I dreaming? Serbia, a country held in violation of the Genocide Convention for its aggression in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, is to take over chairmanship of the Council of Europe this week.
Where has this come from? The last time I checked, Serbia was blocked from pre-entry talks with the European Union because of its government's failure to hand over the war criminals General Ratko Mladic, responsible for the massacre at Srebrenica, and Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader. Both men remain at large.
The Council of Europe - not to be confused with the EU's Council of Ministers - was founded after the Second World War for "the pursuit of peace based on justice". It's prime purpose is to run the European Court of Human Rights.
It is true the Serbs were not alone in committing war crimes during the four
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| As I write, ultra-nationalist Serb militias are forming to once again defend Kosovo |
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backyard wars that began in 1991. The Croats had a field day and Bosnian Muslims were no slouches either. However, the Serbs did invent ethnic cleansing in eastern Bosnia.
But even if we avoid the touchy subject of human rights, what about democracy?
On Tuesday, the right-wing Radical Party member Tomislav Nikolic (left) was elected speaker of the Serbian parliament. An admirer of the late President Milosevic, his election signals a return of Serbia's ultranationalists to power. Within hours, he was advocating that Serbia should forget about bonding with Europe and turn instead to Russia.
As I write, ultra-nationalist Serb militias are forming to once again defend Kosovo - the very militias which started the mass deportation of Kosovar Albanians in the winter of 1999.
Serbia must be welcomed into the European fold eventually, when the time is right. But even Serb diplomats admit their country is not yet 'ready' to join the EU. It is too early to be handing out bonus points to Serbia. 
FIRST POSTED MAY 10, 2007
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