SERBIA:EU foreign ministers held out the prospect of future membership of the union for Serbia yesterday if its new government adopted reforms and co-operated with the international war crimes tribunal.
Despite an unclear election result in which radical nationalists claimed victory on Sunday, EU leaders backed reformist parties in Serbia to form a government and lead reforms.
"The reformist forces that share European values achieved a clear parliamentary majority, which should enable them to form a pro-European and reform oriented government," said enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn. "I look forward to such a government making rapid progress towards the EU."
The conclusions from the meeting said the EU remained ready to support Serbia in its European ambition. It did not refer to the decision by Brussels last May to freeze talks with Belgrade on closer relations because of Serbia's failure to capture suspected war criminals.
Mr Rehn will be going to Belgrade, with German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the next few weeks for talks with the incoming government. These are likely to focus on a decision next month by the UN's chief envoy on the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo. Most observers expect the envoy to offer some form of independence to the region, a decision that could spark unrest in Serbia.
Asked whether Serbia's new government was likely to hand over suspected war criminal Ratko Mladic, Mr Rehn said: "For the moment we see no significant co-operation. Of course, we expect the new government will make new commitments and take, convincing, concrete actions that will lead to the arrest and transfer of Ratko Mladic."
At the meeting in Brussels, EU ministers also warned Sudan that they would consider imposing sanctions unless its government allowed UN peacekeepers into Darfur. An African Union (AU)force has failed to stem the violence and protect aid workers in the region and the EU wants Khartoum to accept a UN plan for a hybrid AU-UN force. In December Khartoum said it would accept a hybrid force, but there has been little action on the matter since then.
It is estimated that 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes during the four-year conflict that the US calls genocide.
Mr Steinmeier described the situation as "catastrophic" from a political and humanitarian point of view. In its statement on the situation in Darfur, the council expressed its "readiness to consider further measures, notably in the UN framework against any party which obstructs its implementation". Diplomats said this was a reference to possible sanctions unless Khartoum co-operated with the UN.
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers also agreed to relaunch negotiations aimed at ending the current economic embargo on Turkish-backed Northern Cyprus. "Work aiming at the adoption of the commission proposal for a council regulation on special conditions for trade with the areas of the Republic of Cyprus . . . must resume without delay," said EU ministers in a statement.
But EU diplomats said it was unlikely that there would be an early lifting of the embargo, as Greece and Cyprus retain a veto at EU level to prevent an early lifting of the restrictions. Turkish-based Northern Cyprus has been in international isolation since its formation in 1974 when Turkey invaded the north of the island after a coup undertaken by Greek Cypriot military junta.
EU ministers also approved a mandate or talks with Ukraine on a new partnership agreement that acknowledges the eastern European state's "European aspirations".
Several EU states such as Poland want Ukraine to eventually join the EU, however many older member states are sceptical about further expansion of the EU east.