In the wake of the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre which took place exactly ten years ago this July, the news that Croatian and Serbian leaders have met recently and might be moving towards some form of reconciliation at last, is extremely encouraging; there may however be more to these talks than meets the eye...

The Serbian leader Mr Tadic was quoted as saying that Serbia wished for the best possible ties for its neighbour and clearly in light of the news of their meeting, the Croatian leader Ivo Josipovic is at last prepared to entertain some form of diplomacy.  Needless to say it must remain difficult to wholeheartedly embrace a neighbouring state like Serbia when popular consensus believes it was responsible for the Srebrenica massacre and has never been brought to account for its actions.  That said although the history of the region is quite literally littered with hostilities between the two states, it would be fantastic if some form of common ground could at last be found, if only to allow some closure if at all possible for those who suffered or lost relatives in the recent conflict.

It is improbable that these talks have been solely motivated for the purposes of achieving some form of reconciliation however; in fact it is more likely that closer ties are being forged between Serbia and Croatia in order to speed their respective progress towards eventual European Union membership.  Both states are eager to become members of the European Union and EU leaders have made it very clear that the states need to meet strict criteria before their applications will be seriously considered.  Serbia in particular has been required to fully acquiesce with the requests of the Hague in relation to the surrender of the former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, believed to be responsible for the Siege of Sarajevo and the ensuing Srebrenica massacre.

To this end therefore, it is extremely likely that these most recent talks are more realistically borne out of an attempt by the two states to open up communication lines thereby improving their international standing and boosting their chances of acceding to membership of the EU membership at last.