The New York Times-20080129-Europe Offers Serbia Deal To Sway Vote

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Europe Offers Serbia Deal To Sway Vote

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The European Union sent a clear signal to Serbia on Monday that its path to membership would be opened if it rejected a nationalist pro-Russian candidate in the presidential runoff next Sunday and apprehended war criminal suspects who remained at large from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

The signal emerged here from a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, who were looking for ways to give a political lift to the pro-Western liberal incumbent in Serbia, President Boris Tadic, who faces a close race with the pro-Russian nationalist challenger, Tomislav Nikolic.

Originally the group had hoped to offer a generous package of far-reaching economic and political ties to Serbia and expedited membership. But they scaled it back to an offer of expanded cooperation in trade and visas.

The Netherlands and Belgium had objected to the more generous agreement, saying that could not happen until Serbia made progress on handing over indicted war criminals, most notably Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is charged with masterminding the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

Dimitrij Rupel, the foreign minister of Slovenia, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, hinted that if Serbia elected a moderate president, it could become a member within a few years. It would be possible for this to happen relatively soon, he said.

Analysts said the European Union's attempt to link the outcome of the Serbian elections with future membership could backfire by emboldening nationalists in Serbia.

Mr. Nikolic has sought to exploit wounded national pride by playing on the disenchantment over American and European Union support for Kosovo, the breakaway province poised to declare independence next month.