EP rapporteur urges EU not to compromise with Serbia over Mladic

27/08/2008

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Despite the huge step made on the part of Serbia with the arrest of wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, the EU should not allow further progress in Serbia's EU integration until it arrests war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Serbia, Jelko Kacin, said Tuesday (August 26th). Ahead of a visit to Belgrade, Kacin said that regardless of the talks he holds in Serbia, his report on the country's progress would call for full implementation of commitments to The Hague war crimes tribunal. Implementing the interim Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Serbia and the EU begins only after an assessment of the country's co-operation with The Hague. Kacin also reacted sceptically to a recent comment by Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic suggesting Serbia would be ready to join the EU in 2014. Kacin said it is too early to speculate on a possible entry date. (B92, Beta, Blic, Tanjug - 26/08/08)