Romania and Serbia reach agreement on minority issue, allowing EU to approve Serbia's candidacy

Romania and Serbia have worked out their 'vlah' minority differences which had initially led to Romania blocking Serbia's candidacy to the EU. All EU member states voted for allowing Serbia to prepare for joining the European Union. The two countries signed a protocol about minorities on Thursday in Brussels, where EU member states representatives met for the European summit, which is still ongoing. Romania has put pressure on Serbia over guarantees that the rights of the Romanian minority in Serbia – some 30,000 ‘vlahi’ people, most of which are in the Timoc area, East Serbia – will be respected. Romania has been promised an EC draft report on the progress of minority rights by September 2012, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Cristian Diaconescu. He hopes the two countries will sign an agreement on minorities as soon as possible. Romania has asked Serbia to allow mother tongue teaching for the Romanian minority group and enough churches. However, Serbian president Boris Tadic said the problem stems from Romania’s request to have all Serbian citizens who call themselves ‘vlahi’ to be recognized as Romanians. “Serbia will not accept such an approach by all means, as it is against European standards,” said the Serbian president. Romania’s opposition to Serbia becoming an EU candidate came as a surprise earlier this week. The country’s decision to block Serbia’s accession to the EU could be a ‘tit for tat’ retaliation against the Netherlands over joining the Schengen area, according to the EUObserver. The Netherlands, which has opposed Romania’s entry into the passport free zone, is a keen supporter of Serbia’s EU candidacy. Meanwhile, a decision on Romania and Bulgaria's entry into Schengen was further pushed to September this year. editor@romania-insider.com