Serbia wins backing for EU deal

Dutch drop objections to starting accession talks with Serbia after presentation by the UN’s war-crimes prosecutor.
EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg today gave the green light to the ratification of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia, the first crucial agreement on the path to membership.

Serbia signed the SAA in 2008 but the government of the Netherlands, with broad cross-party support in parliament and backed by other member states, blocked its ratification because Serbia was not fully co-operating with the United Nations’ war-crimes court in The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Serge Brammertz, the ICTY’s chief prosecutor, briefed the EU’s foreign ministers on the report on Serbia and Croatia that he will present to the UN Security Council on Friday (18 June). The Dutch assessed that the report was positive enough for them to drop their objection to the ratification.

Many member states oppose granting Serbia candidacy status before the SAA has been ratified, a step demanded by others.

The last fugitives on the ICTY’s ‘wanted’ list are Ratko Mladić, wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, and Goran Hadžić, a wartime political leader of the Croatian Serbs. Both are believed to be hiding in Serbia.