BELGIUM: Talks with Serbia on EU membership face "disruption" unless Belgrade hands over war crimes indictee Mladic, says EU enlargement commissioner.

Record ID: 859262

  • Title: BELGIUM: Talks with Serbia on EU membership face "disruption" unless Belgrade hands over war crimes indictee Mladic, says EU enlargement commissioner.
  • Date: 24th February 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(English) EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT OLLIE REHN REACTING ON SERBIA: "Last year our message on ICTY was very clearly understood. In January 2005, we stated that if Serbia, Serbia-Montenegro can reach significant progress that is leading towards full co-operation, then we can recommend opening the negotiations on the SAA. And that is what happened. By April, there was serious delivery of more than a dozen indictees who were transferred to The Hague from Serbia and also from Republika Serpska. And we were able to recommend the opening of negotiations. Now, I expect that our message has likewise been received and perhaps should I say that due to the stereotypes held concerning my nationality, I can say that we made it clear to Belgrade with full Finnish bluntness what is now expected in terms of full co-operation. In this respect, (European Union Commission) President (Jose Manual) Barroso is very "nordic" , 'no nonsense', 'no small talk' person as well. I am sure that the message was fully understood. There is no room for misunderstanding."
  • Embargoed: 11th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAO54J48NWO7LYH0FP0198P795
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said on
    Thursday (February 23) the bloc opened talks last year on an agreement marking
    the first step towards EU membership on the basis that Serbia had achieved
    co-operation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
    But he told the European Parliament this should have improved to the
    level when Brussels considered Belgrade was in "full cooperation without
    delay", but had not yet done so.
    Rehn made clear that full cooperation should lead to the arrest and
    transfer of former Serb general Ratko Mladic to the ICTY.
    Rehn stated that now, nearly a year later that cooperation had
    deteriorated.
    "There is no confirmation about his (Mladic's) arrest as we know,
    neither by ICTY, by Belgrade or EUFOR," Rehn said.
    "We have stated very clearly that unless full cooperation with
    ICTY is achieved without delay, we can't avoid disruption of the negotiations
    on the Association Agreement," Rehn said.
    Rehn will report to European Union foreign ministers on Monday
    (February 27) on Serbian progress towards membership, and told EU lawmakers
    the bloc has the right to suspend talks at any time if it judges Belgrade is
    not doing enough to meet strict criteria.
    "Negotiations should be suspended if the Commission judges that
    Serbia and Montenegro at any time does not satisfactorily address this,"
    Rehn said.
    Mladic has been indicted for genocide in Bosnia during the Yugoslav
    wars in the 1990s, and Serbian media have been speculating for days that his
    arrest or surrender, and transfer
    to the tribunal in The Hague, was imminent.
    Rehn, who visited Belgrade last week, urged Serbia not to let the issue
    of Mladic's arrest hold up its path towards the EU.
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