Madam, - Chris Stephen's excellent article in your edition of March 16th raises the question of whether legal proof was possible in relation to the genocide perpetrated by Slobodan Milosevic. Be that as it may, the reality is that Milosevic was directly responsible for the brutal deaths of tens of thousands of people in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Croatia.
It is easy now to lament his crimes but the appalling reality is that, while they were being committed, senior government ministers in Britain, France and Ireland ascribed primary responsibility to "ancient tribal hatreds". This implied that the victims of Milosevic's imperial aggression shared in a large measure responsibility for their own obliteration.
It is essential that the EU makes up for its former complicitous role in Milosevic's record of destruction by speeding up EU membership for the war-ravaged populations of the Balkans. It is very disturbing that, according to the European Stability Initiative think-tank (ESI), there are clear signs that the accession of some of these Balkan countries will be even further postponed. (ESI report on Salzburg EU-Balkan summit, March 13 2006).
Whatever path the Serbian government chooses to follow in relation to the handing over of major indicted war criminals such as General Mladic, it should no longer have the power to prejudice the EU destiny of such countries as Bosnia and Kosovo. There is now almost universal agreement in the Balkans and by outside commentators that the best hope for lasting peace and prosperity in that part of Europe lies with its early entry into the EU.
It is to be hoped that this is also the strong conviction of the Irish Government. - Yours, etc,
VALERIE HUGHES, Cabra, Dublin 7.