Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a Polish liberal MEP and the head of the Committee For Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, has arrived with a visit to Serbia with the aim of reconciling Serbia and united Europe.
 
Danuta Isler reports
 
It’s the first visit paid by a representative of the European Union since recognition of independent Kosovo by most of the Western states. Shortly before departure to Belgrade Jacek Saryusz –Wolski said he was going there at the invitation of the Parliament of Serbia to talk on EU-Serbia relations and to touch upon all those issues that are of concern for both sides.

‘The key issue is what will be the strategic choice of Serbia in the forthcoming parliamentary elections in terms of choosing association and future membership with the European Union. This is the first scenario. The second is to choose to be just a neighbor enclave with some Balkan countries which will sooner or later become members of the Union.’

Beata Górka of the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw points out that what is also problematic is the fact that Serbia refuses to recognize as legal a diplomatic mission that the 27-nation bloc is going to launch in Kosovo to help build an effective administration to Europe's youngest state.

We can expect that any interference of the European Union will meet with sharp reactions on that territory now. Therefore the mission of Saryusz-Wolski should be interpreted in such a context. The EU is trying now to make up politically for what it has neglected in the past few years - that it forgot that Serbia has to be a part of the Kosovo solution. That's why one should be very careful while offering predictions as to whether Saryusz-Wolski's mission will prove to be successful.

For Serbians, Kosovo is a cradle of their nation. To appease Belgrade, Brussels is likely to offer Serbia a fast track to EU membership. Jacek Saryusz-Wolski again.

‘The recognition of Kosovo was done by Poland as was the case with most EU member states but it was done with some reticence and hesitation. Poland understands the trauma which Serbia now is going through and would like to see Serbia in the European Union as a full-fledged member one day.’

Czeslaw Bielecki, a former head of the parliamentary committee of foreign affairs shares this view saying that European integration is a remedy for any separatist tendencies in the united Europe.

‘The countries which to some degree declined to quickly recognize Kosovo were worried about this very process of fragmentation. But we have to bear in mind that we are lucky in Europe because we have the European Union and even if there are some separatist tendencies they do join the European community eventually.’

The relation of the bloc with the Balkan countries will also be the focus of a two-day meeting of 27 EU foreign ministers which started in the Slovenian city of Brdo today and is also attended by foreign ministers of Western Balkans.