Serbia made to wait for closer EU ties
RENATA GOLDIROVA AND ELITSA VUCHEVA
30.07.2008 @ 09:22 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has once again stopped short of rewarding Serbia for the capture of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic mainly due to the Netherlands' resistance.
On Tuesday (29 July), EU diplomats meeting in Brussels reiterated the bloc's foreign ministers' position from last week - that the arrest was a very important step in the right direction for Serbia – but said it was not enough to grant Belgrade a reward of some sort at this stage.
An ICTY cell: Radovan Karadzic was extradited early on Wednesday morning (Photo: un.org)
The ambassadors' decision came despite calls from EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn that the member states start implementing the trade-related part of a pre-accession deal - the Stabilisation and Association Agreement - the EU signed with Belgrade in April.
According to one EU diplomat, the Netherlands in particular has been holding firmly to its position, arguing the Serbian government has more tasks to complete before being allowed closer EU ties.
While the arrest of Radovan Karadzic follows that of another top war crimes suspect – Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin – last month and has been widely welcomed, both former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic and former Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic, remain at large at this stage.
Capturing the remaining fugitives, in particular General Mladic, is one of the things the Netherlands would like to see before softening its position.
"We are still waiting for Radovan Karadzic's transfer to the Hague, the arrest of [Ratko] Mladic and Serbia still has to set up a witness protection program," Dutch foreign ministry spokesman Rob Dekker was cited as saying by Reuters.
He added that the Netherlands is also waiting for the assessment by UN prosecutor Serge Brammertz of Serbia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [ICTY].
Full cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal is one of the criteria for allowing Serbia closer to the EU.
Karadzic extradited
Meanwhile, the former Bosnian Serb leader was extradited to the ICTY in The Hague early on Wednesday (30 July), press agencies reported.
A plane believed to be transporting him landed at Rotterdam airport at 6h30CET this morning, according to news agency AFP.
Radovan Karadzic is facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 1991-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He has been charged since 1995 and was arrested earlier this month.
The extradition took place hours after a rally organised by Serb nationalists was held in Belgrade protesting against his arrest.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 people from Serbia and Republika Srpska – Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serb entity – took place in the demonstrations on Tuesday evening, international media report.
Some 46 people, including 25 policemen and 21 civilians, were injured in the clashes that broke out between police forces and the protesters, although none of them seriously, according to the Associated Press.
The rally was organised by the nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and gathered people who still consider the former Bosnian Serb leader a wartime hero, rather than a criminal.
The SRS has strongly condemned the arrest accusing the Serbian government, and in particular Serbian president Boris Tadic, of betraying the country.