EU member states again fail to reach consensus on external relations.

A meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Sep. 15, failed to agree to unblock a trade accord with Serbia. Twenty-five EU member states and the EU Commission were in favor of immediately implementing the deal. However, The Netherlands vetoed the accord. Insisting Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief, be first delivered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

Mladic and Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic are charged with, among other things, genocide relating to events in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. This is a sensitive issue for The Dutch. Dutch UN peacekeepers that were present in the town at the time. Karadzic was arrested in the Serbian capital Belgrade in July but Mladic is still at large.

Serge Brammertz, the United Nations’ chief war crimes prosecutor, gave a positive report on Serbia’s cooperation to the meeting. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said, “We have heard the prosecutor Serge Brammertz, he cleared up things a lot, saying there had been very clear progress.”

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagenh was less impressed saying, “I did not find myself in a position … that I could conclude that Serbia was now fully cooperating.”

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic dismissed this, saying, “Serbia’s full cooperation with the tribunal exists.”

Other Reactions

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic accused Verhagenh of, “taking the right to solely decide whether Serbia was cooperating enough.” He said the move was, “an injustice done to Serbia.” He said he was, “encouraged by the fact that 25 countries and the whole of the European Commission spent hours trying to convince Holland to change its position. Serbia has never had that level of support before.”

In Belgrade, Serbian President Boris Tadic called on Mladic and the other alleged war criminal, Goran Hadzic, to turn themselves in. Saying they would then, “lift a heavy load from Serbia’s shoulders.”

The interim trade accord is part of a Stabilization and Association Agreement, an important step towards Serbia’s EU membership. Serbia’s parliament ratified the agreement last week.

Despite the setback, Deputy Prime Minister Djelic made it clear Serbia would continue to seek EU membership. “Our next goal remains receiving candidate status in 2009, and our goal of EU entry in 2014 remains exactly as it was,” he said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn reiterated his position that the arrest of Karadzic was, “a milestone and should be recognized by the EU.” He urged Serbia to start implementing the trade deal “unilaterally.”

If not now, when?

There will be another opportunity for the EU to unblock the trade accord at a similar meeting on Oct. 13. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he expected the accord to be unblocked then.

Prosecutor Brammertz will submit his report to the UN Security Council in December. Djelic believes this is, “the next chance for the Interim Agreement to appear on the EU’s agenda, and for yesterday’s decision to be overturned.”

Do you think the trade accord with Serbia should wait until Ratko Mladic is delivered to The Hague?

Popularity: 2%