Serbia must give up northern Kosovo and essentially recognize Kosovo’s independence before joining the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Belgrade during her tour of Balkan countries August 22 and 23.

“If Serbia wants to achieve candidate status it should resume the dialogue [with Kosovo] and achieve results in that dialogue, enable [EU police mission] eulex to work in all regions of Kosovo, and abolish parallel structures and not create new ones,” she said.

Stratfor points out: “In the minds of the general Serbian public, dismantling the parallel administrative structures is tantamount to relinquishing sovereignty.”

Serbs believed they’d overcome the last hurdle before becoming an EU candidate member when they captured Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic. But now that Croatia is well on the path to EU membership, the EU no longer needs Serbia in the Union to keep it under control.

Serbia “is now surrounded on all sides by EU member countries, candidate countries or potential candidate countries, severely limiting its ability to cause problems that could extend much beyond its immediate region,” writes Stratfor.

Once again, Germany is trying to shape events in the Balkans. It already succeeded in dividing Yugoslavia. Watch for Germany to expand its influence in the region.

For more information, read The Rising Beast—Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans.