EU: The EU has called off talks to conclude an agreement to create closer ties with Serbia over the Balkan state's failure to arrest war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic.
Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday the decision to stop negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement - a first step toward EU membership - was disappointing.
But he said the issue was about the rule of law, achieving democratic maturity and ensuring the Serbian armed forces were under control of the government.
"It is disappointing that Belgrade has been unable to locate, arrest and transfer Ratko Mladic to The Hague. The commission therefore has to call off the negotiations," Mr Rehn said following a detailed briefing on the situation delivered by the UN's chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military commander, is charged with genocide over the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims and over 10,000 deaths in the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo during the war in the Balkans.
The European Commission had given Belgrade an April 30th deadline to deliver Mladic as a precondition for resuming the next round of talks with the EU on May 11th.
But Mr Rehn said that a briefing given by chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte was "negative", forcing the commission to call off the talks on the proposed agreement.
"Serbia must show that nobody is above the law, and that anyone indicted for serious crimes will face justice," said Mr Rehn, who added that the time for speculation on Mladic's whereabouts was now over and it was time for concrete action by Serbia.
Despite the cancellation of negotiations on the stabilisation and association, Mr Rehn said that it was possible that the talks could resume without delay, enabling a deal to be signed by the end of this year, as originally intended. However, he said this would occur only if there was a dramatic improvement in co-operation with the criminal tribunal. A stabilisation and association agreement would expand Serbia's ties with the EU and facilitate more trade and attract inward investment.
"I call on the democratic forces in Serbia to work together to achieve this, for the benefit of the whole country. Serbia and Montenegro has a clear European future to which we are strongly committed," Mr Rehn said.