Serbia will file an application to join the European Union today, clearing the latest in a line of hurdles that may still delay its accession for years as it seeks to erase a reputation tarnished by the civil wars of the 1990s.
President Boris Tadic will arrive in Sweden, which holds the 27-member union's rotating presidency, to submit the request, joining a line of former Yugoslav republics, such as Croatia and Montenegro, who want to join, as well as Iceland and Turkey.
Serbia may not find it easy to become a member of the EU, which expanded eastward by embracing 10 mainly post-communist members since 2004.
Croatia, which has worked on its application for several years, has concluded talks in just 17 of 35 policy areas and may take another two years or more to wrap up entry.
Serbia has struggled to rebuild its reputation and economy following the wars that broke out during the fissure of Yugoslavia. Before it can complete membership talks, it needs to arrest and extradite Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb wartime commander, to the UN war crimes court in the Netherlands to stand trial for genocide during the 1992-1995 war and the 1995 killing of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica.
A signing of the Stabilisation and Association agreement, the trade pact with Serbia, was held up by the Netherlands, which demanded Mladic be delivered to authorities first. It dropped its objection at the beginning of this month.
The application comes a week after citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia won the right of visa- free travel to the EU.
Bloomberg