Fresh EU bid to bolster Serb opposition

Date: 04/11/1999

By Simon Taylor

SENIOR EU officials held another meeting with Serbian opposition leaders this week in an attempt to give fresh impetus to the Union's efforts to support anti-Milosevic forces.

Diplomats from both the Finnish and Portuguese foreign ministries met leaders of the biggest opposition groups in Budapest to explore ways of helping those opposed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's regime.

The move was aimed at reversing the setback which the EU suffered last month when Serbian opposition figures failed to turn up for a meeting with Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg in protest at what they saw as one-sided demands from the EU.

Union officials said the Budapest talks had focused on how to continue the dialogue between the Union and opposition leaders. But the discussion was dominated by opposition leaders' calls for a lifting of sanctions on Serbia.

Anti-Milosevic groups insist that the international community must end its fuel-supply ban on the country and abolish the embargo on international flights into Serbia. They argue that these measures, which are designed to put economic pressure on the ruling regime, are instead hurting ordinary people who want to get rid of Milosevic.

The argument over sanctions has divided the international community. The US and the UK believe that easing the measures would only help Milosevic and his cronies who control most of the economy. But other EU member states are in favour of relaxing the sanctions to ease the hardship suffered by the population.

Union officials said that all but one of the main Serbian opposition groups attended the talks, and added that another meeting with ministers could be arranged once there was more common ground between the two sides on the sanctions issue.