Dutch reject Serbia deal with EU The Dutch government has rejected calls from EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn for Serbia to be allowed to sign a pre-membership agreement shortly. Speaking in Brussels before a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Mr Rehn said a "very strong signal of a European future" should be sent to Serbia.
But the Netherlands said no pact should be signed until Serbia handed over war crimes suspects to The Hague tribunal. General Ratko Mladic is among those indicted on genocide charges. He is wanted in connection with the massacre of Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war in 1995. The Serbian government says it does not know where Mr Mladic is. 'Significant progress' Deputy Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told reporters the Netherlands would sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) "the moment Serbia hands over the people who stand indicted for the Yugoslavia tribunal". Mr Rehn said that while the EU should insist on Serbia's full co-operation, Belgrade had made "significant progress especially since last spring". Until now the EU has made the arrest of war criminals a condition for signing the deal. But the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels say it is now taking a softer line, amid concerns that Serbia is moving away from the West as it faces a key presidential election overshadowed by the imminent independence of its breakaway province of Kosovo. On 3 February, ultra-nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic takes on pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic in the second round of the presidential election. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said there was no question of interference in Serbia's electoral process. "What we would like is everybody to know that the European Union is committed to move as close as possible (for) Serbia to the European Union." Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is in Brussels and will talk to EU ministers on the margins of the meeting. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7212673.stm Published: 2008/01/28 14:59:29 GMT © BBC MMVIII Serbian News Network - SNN news@antic.org http://www.antic.org/
