German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas spoke for B92 TV. Below is the transcript of the interview
Journalist: Ljubica GojgićSource:
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B92: Mr. ambassador, the word is that Chief Prosecutor Mr. Brammertz and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele are to present tfheir case before the Dutch MPs. Is there a chance indeed that on October 25 that Council of Ministers will give the green light to the Commission to start reviewing Serbia’s application for membership?
Maas: As you know, the Netherlands has elected a new parliament and for the Netherlands this issue of arresting the remaining war crime fugitives is of tremendous importance as it is basically for all of us. And therefore, the newly elected parliament will have to voice its opinion on that issue. I think it’s quite normal that they take the opportunity to get first-hand information of the state of the situation on the one hand from the prosecutor, Mr. Brammertz, and on the other from Enlargement Commissioner Mr. Fuele. I am optimistic that clarification which will come with that presentation will make a contribution for opening up of the process so that at the next Council of Ministers meeting things can move on for Serbia.
B92: Is Germany in favor of the opening of that process?
Maas: Our foreign minister has been pretty clear in stating that we are supporting to have the application moved so that the Commission can present its opinion.
B92: Speaking of Germany, when do you think Germany could ratify the SAA? That is also an important step in the process of EU enlargement.
Maas: Yes, but once again you should simply be aware of normal procedure. The ratification of treaties with other countries is normally a process which takes quite some time in our parliament because it has to go through various committees, than we have two chambers of the parliament and so forth. So what is going on with the SAA is nothing out of the ordinary, quite contrary, it’s going its normal way and it’s simply hard to foresee when it will be ratified but quite frankly I don’t think that it is of such great importance when it is ratified because the agreement is already implemented by both sides. The Serbian side is doing its homework in adapting the acquis communautaire and so this process is not wasting any of Serbia’s time and this is the only thing that counts, that no time is wasted. So I think that we are basically on the right track.
B92: These days you are marking the anniversary of the reunification of Germany. When it comes to that moment and what actually happened before when two Germanies were divided, people here and some people abroad play with the idea of two Germanies when they are trying to come up with a strategy for Kosovo and Serbia. How realistic is to look upon once two countries that are now the united Germany?
Maas: You see in life and particularly in history and politics there are never two situations which are totally equal. So there are certain aspects where you basically, if you want to, draw from the experience we had in Germany. First of all, our conviction at that time that the most prominent task for our government in Western Germany was to make life easier for the people who were affected by the border. This of course is something that holds truth also for the situation between Serbia and Kosovo. It’s the little people who are affected by problems which arise out of the fact that certain issues are not sorted out. And there are valid claims on both sides and our experience has been that nothing is irreconcilable.
So I think if you sit down with a necessary good will, you can find resolution to everything. Our path at that time was that we simply decided and agreed with the other side that we would put the controversial issue aside, there was an agreement to put the controversial issue aside, and in doing that all the practical issues were no longer tied to unsolvable political issues and that made solutions possible. So in that respect I think there are of course things one can draw lessons from, on the other hand there are basic differences in the two Germanies where Germans lived and in Serbia and Kosovo it’s not the case.
B92: How long could Serbia and Kosovo postpone dealing with major issues such as status?
Maas: Quite frankly, I think we have shown in our relationship with the GDR that we could keep this issue of status open till the very last moment. We never recognized GDR and nevertheless we were able to solve all problems. We even sat side by side in the United Nations, all that is possible without agreeing on status. Of course in a regular life it’s always nicer to have everything nicely sorted out, but sometimes if there are good reasons that it is impossible to come to a common assessment of a situation, then perhaps it’s a smart thing just to agree not to try to solve the issue for now, but put it on a back burner.
B92: And finally, in a few days Serbia’s prime minister and the government are to present something that they call a “new model for the economic growth” for the next period. And even before this presentation we all know that the key word is investments. Germany is a number one investor in Serbia, how likely is that the number of companies, investors that are coming to Serbia will increase?
Maas: As you know, I consider it as one of my priorities to promote Serbia as an investment destination in my country. I was also always very honest in saying that one basic problem for Serbia in the past has been its image, it’s still connected to images of the past. I’m optimistic that step by step we will succeed in replacing these old images with new and positive ones. If you look at it, perhaps not in huge terms but on a constant smaller level, we see quite a positive development of German investments in Serbia.
Even during the past two years of deep economic crisis we had a constant flow of German investments to Serbia. These were not companies setting up shops here to employ thousands of people but if you take ten or 15 companies that employ a couple of hundred people then you also end up with thousands of jobs and in that respect I feel quite encouraged by the developments over the past year, year and a half.
B92: What about the complaints that foreign investors have regarding rules and regulations and the number of papers one has to obtain before starting a business?
Maas: This is also something pretty well-known and it’s not a problem for Serbia alone. If you want to invest somewhere, basically I would say that there are three aspects that are important. First of all political stability, I think that it exists here, secondly rule of law and I take it that the government has understood that it is important and is working on that, and third not to be startled by bureaucracy. This of course is a challenge if you come from an economic system where paperwork was the rule of the day you have to adapt to, let’s say, more modern management methods.
But that is a challenge we also have in Germany, we also have to routinely find new ways how to improve our dealing with the citizens or with business. As our municipalities are in a constant competition among themselves to be the best destination, I can only hope that similar competition will evolve in Serbia because you have quite some places which evidently are very successful in attracting foreign investments. If you only look at Subotica, from Germany alone in the past 12, 18 months probably more than a thousand jobs have been created by companies coming from Germany.