Kosovo Albanians react to Serbia's candidacy to become an EU member

• Report rights infringement
• published: 30 Jul 2015
• views: 1027

1. Wide of Pristina 2. Man buying newspapers 3. Tilt down of newspapers 4. Headline reading (Albanian) "Serbia gets candidate status" 5. Close up of picture of Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton 6. Thaci and Ashton 7. Wide of street scene 8. SOUNDBITE (Albanian) vox pop, Alber Mirdita, resident of Pristina: "I think there is a great injustice being done here, especially knowing the past. I am not for revenge, but Europe should be realistic, and all countries should be joining the EU together. This is not fair and it is a discrimination towards Kosovo and other ex-Yugoslav countries. There is no justice here." 9. Close up of sign for Self Determination Movement, political party 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Shpend Ahmeti, leader of Kosovo opposition New Spirit Party: "The dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo was supposed to change Serbia's attitude towards Kosovo, but instead it seems that Serbia's attitude and position towards Kosovo has not changed, and Kosovo has changed so that Serbia can get a candidate status. This is a bizarre way, because we believe that actually the government of Kosovo helped Serbia achieve this status without actually changing its position towards Kosovo. We believe that the candidate status for the EU means that a country has to achieve certain democratic standards in the way it behaves towards other countries, and in this case especially towards Kosovo. But we believe that it was a reward without actually changing and reaching these standards." 11. Pristina street scene STORYLINE European Union leaders have formally made Serbia a candidate for membership in the bloc, a remarkable turnaround for a country considered a pariah just over a decade ago. Serbia had been widely expected to get EU candidacy in December after it captured two top war crimes suspects, but was disappointed when Germany delayed the move, saying it wanted to see more progress in talks with Kosovo. Kosovo, which many Serbs consider the cradle of their statehood and religion, came under international control after the 1999 war during which NATO forces ejected then-strongman Slobodan Milosevic's troops. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia refuses to recognise it. In Pristina on Friday, some residents and opposition leaders reacted negatively to the news, saying that Serbia had not changed its attitude towards Kosovo, and had failed to reach the required democratic standards. "We believe that it was a reward without actually changing and reaching these standards," said Shpend Ahmeti, leader of the opposition New Spirit Party. Serbia spent much of the 1990s ostracised and isolated from the EU after Milosevic started the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. In 1999, NATO bombed Serbia to stop a crackdown on ethnic Albanians. Candidate status is an initial step on the road to EU membership. Belgrade will still probably have to wait for about a year to open actual accession negotiations, which can then drag on for several years. Still, the EU move is politically important for Serbia's pro-EU president, Boris Tadic, whose party faces elections soon. The European Parliament urged the bloc's executive body on Thursday to open accession negotiations with Serbia as soon as possible. The EU has not set recognition of Kosovo as a formal requirement for Serbia's candidacy, but it insists that Serbia establish "good-neighbourly relations" with its former province. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3ec0e3bc98a0270912f53469eff87d8e Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork