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A central premise of the European Union is that economic integration will soothe the rivalries between nations that for centuries have sparked the Continent’s bloody wars. In the Balkans, that approach faces what may be its toughest test. Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009, the year after Kosovo declared its independence. In 2012 the EU officially designated it a candidate. But now Kosovo has become a stumbling block.
The European Parliament approved a report on July 6 demanding that Belgrade recognize Kosovo as a “precondition of EU accession,” never mind that five members—Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia and Spain, which all have their own territorial disputes—also refuse to do so. A subsequent Ipsos poll found only 35% of Serbians supported EU membership, which previously had solid majority backing.
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