Serbia entrenched in its past as neighbors go European
While its neighborhood is scrambling to use all resources to speed up integration with the rest of Europe, Serbs remain immersed in their past and are falling behind at a frightening pace. To the north, the border with Hungary is now effectively Serbia’s border with the European Union (EU) and NATO. To the east, Bulgaria and Romania have joined NATO and are expected to join the EU in 2007. To the west, the ex-Yugoslav, former sister republic Croatia has been taking steps toward EU and NATO, with the hope of becoming part of both before the decade expires. Meanwhile, Serbs have sat back and watched with fascinating indifference.

Serbia is chained to some issues it cannot quickly resolve by itself. The main issues center on Kosovo and Serbia’s union with Montenegro. But other touchy points in Belgrade’s relations with the world, most of all the handing over of war criminals to the international tribunal in The Hague, could be solved with much less agony – as Croatia has clearly shown this year. Kosovo, Serbia’s volatile southern province, has been under UN administration the past five years. Majority Albanians there want quick independence, and are almost openly using all means, including deadly violence, to empty Kosovo of Serbs. Belgrade insists on its sovereignty over the province and is mandating that the UN implement security and democratic standards before Serbia agrees to start talks on Kosovo’s final status – in mid-2005 at the earliest. With what is nominally a major chunk of its territory remaining in limbo, Serbia will have a major problem in defining foreign policy goals and adequately updating its legislation.

Regarding Serbia’s union with Montenegro, both partners are obviously deeply unhappy, but the EU insists such a solution is the faster vessel to integration. Hence, the two republics will remain bound in their ineffective marriage beyond 2005, when the imposed moratorium on any moves toward a divorce settlement expires.

On the other hand, Serbian leaders must be quicker and firmer in pushing through economic, social, political, military and democratic reforms, to line the country up with EU and NATO standards. Serbia’s main problem with the world, however, is the question of war crimes and its unwillingness to arrest and deliver suspects to the UN tribunal in The Hague. Serbia, meanwhile, which also returned to a nationalist agenda with Kostunica, lost the fragile credibility it earned by extraditing or forcing the surrender of suspects over the previous three years. Kostunica has openly shown his disgust with The Hague tribunal. One example was an emergency law passed by parliament committing the state to financially aid the suspects, effectively encouraging them to become more defiant. The shift has already prompted the United States to stop supporting Serbia with money, and in international financial institutions. NATO officials also said they do not see Serbia in the Partnership for Peace program.

EU and NATO undergo historic enlargement
On May 1, the European Union underwent the largest enlargement of its history and welcomed 10 new members - the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. A year after signing the accession treaty in Athens, the largest single market organization has increased by almost 20 percent in population, totaling upwards of 450 million inhabitants.

“Hungary returns to Europe, returns to the values it has been respecting as its own for a thousand years,” Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy said on accession day. “This is a great moment, an uplifting feeling, we should savor it for a few moments, a few hours and I hope that even for months or a few years. Let’s savor the celebrations and the idea that Hungary has deserved this. Ten million Hungarians have worked for it.”

In economic terms, the enlargement means a 5 percent gain of the total GDP of the EU. As a result of the enlargement, the former EU-15 may have a chance to revitalize their stagnating economy by embracing millions of new consumers. For business, the accession will also mean new labor markets. In contrast to high labor costs of the 15 previous members, the labor pool in the new EU member states will represent a significantly cheaper workforce.

The EU can only hope for new investments on its territory, because according to recent polls, citizens of newcomer countries will not leave their homeland for a better paycheck in the older capitalist economies. A government-funded Hungarian poll reveals roughly 1 percent of Hungarians plan to find temporary or permanent employment abroad, most of who are highly qualified professionals.

Lesser skilled employees named a lack of foreign languages as their primary reason not to change residence. EU institutions, however, are fostering employment abroad: the offices of the EU’s governing bodies will employ several hundred Hungarians and other nationals from secretaries to management positions, along with dozens of newly elected members of the enlarged European Parliament.

The NATO military alliance also expanded March 29, when Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia formally became members and deposited their instruments of accession with the United States government. Prime ministers of the seven countries handed over these instruments to the North Atlantic Treaty and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who accepted them on behalf of the US, the depository nation for the treaty. This is the fifth and the largest round of enlargement in NATO’s history, bringing NATO to 26 member countries.

The fifth round of NATO enlargement may not be the last. At present, three southeast European countries - Albania, Croatia and Macedonia - are members of NATO’s Membership Action Plan (MAP), designed to assist aspiring partner countries meet NATO standards and prepare them for a possible future membership.