The Dutch government on Monday vetoed European Union
attempts to implement a trade deal with Serbia, saying that Belgrade is still
not cooperating fully with international war-crimes prosecutors.
"There is better cooperation, but I do not find myself in the position to
be able to conclude that there is full cooperation," Dutch Foreign
Minister Maxime Verhagen told journalists after the meeting with EU
counterparts in Brussels.
In April the EU signed two key deals - a Stabilization and Association
Agreement (SAA) on political, legal and economic cooperation and a separate
Interim Agreement (IA) on trade - with Serbia in a bid to boost pro-EU forces
in the country.
But the Dutch government blocked both deals until Belgrade begins full cooperation
with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The Dutch are particularly sensitive to the issue since Dutch UN peacekeepers
failed to protect the safe haven of Srebrenica in Bosnia in 1995 - paving the
way for Bosnian Serb forces under fugitive Ratko Mladic to kill an estimated
8,000 Bosnian Muslims.
On July 21 Serb officials arrested Mladic's former political leader, Radovan
Karadzic, and handed him over to The Hague.
Many EU member states argued that the bloc should therefore reward the Serbian
government by implementing the interim agreement.
"It's right to respond to this improved Serbian position with a move from
the EU," British foreign minister David Miliband said Monday.
"The arrest of Radovan Karadzic in July was a milestone and should be
recognised by the EU by starting to implement the interim
agreement," added EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.
But Verhagen stressed that ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, who briefed
ministers on Monday, had not yet said that Belgrade was cooperating fully,
highlighting witness-protection programmes and the failure to arrest Mladic as
key points.
Following the Dutch veto, EU ministers are set to return to the Serbian
question at their next meeting in four weeks' time.
Serbian officials expressed disappointment at the decision, but said that
Belgrade will not give up its goal to become an EU member.
"We will continue our cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and we will
fulfill our international obligations. Cooperation with the Hague is our law
and we are obliged to respect it," President Boris Tadic told journalists
in Belgrade.
Tadic called on Mladic and Hadzic to give themselves up and "lift a heavy
load from Serbia's shoulders".
Despite the Dutch veto, Serbia could still become a full candidate for EU
membership "under the best possible scenario and if everything goes
according to plan" in 2009, Rehn confirmed Monday, dpa reported.
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