Serbia hunting final fugitives amid EU bid
RENATA GOLDIROVA
04.08.2008 @ 09:27 CET
Serbian president Boris Tadic has vowed Belgrade will "fulfil its international obligations" by hunting down two remaining war crimes fugitives - general Ratko Mladic and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday (3 August), Mr Tadic said: "All those who have the idea to put additional pressure on Serbia are knocking on open doors, because not only has Serbia shown its will and determination, but it also has made concrete steps related to this co-operation," the BBC reports.
Serbia will never give up on its territorial integrity and sovereignty, Boris Tadic says (Photo: European Commission)
President Tadic was referring to the recent capture of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who is now before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Today nobody can tell Serbia it is avoiding international justice and it does not respect international law," said Serbia's leader, who has been labelled as a "traitor" and threatened by nationalists.
Full co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague is key to Serbia's EU ambitions with the country seeking to become a candidate country by the beginning of 2009.
Despite the arrest of Mr Karadzic, the EU has stopped short of rewarding Belgrade by giving the green light to implementation of the trade-related part of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) - a pre-accession deal that the EU signed with Belgrade in April this year.
But according to Serbian minister for EU integration Milica Delevic, cited by newswire B92, the go-ahead could come in by the middle of next month - shortly after Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the UN war crime tribunal, pays a visit to Belgrade.
EU foreign ministers have expressed "undoubted support to Serbia," Ms Delevic said, referring to their latest meeting in July. "But the European Union has a certain procedure and way of operation, which should be observed," she added.
EU bid versus Kosovo
But despite its determination to become an EU member state, Belgrade is refusing to bow to international pressure over Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia in February this year.
President Tadic has said his government will challenge the legality of Kosovo's self-declared independence in front of the International Court of Justice - something that could further complicate the presence of the EU's police and civil administration mission for Kosovo, EULEX, on Kosovo's territory.
Only 300 officials out of the 2,200-strong EULEX mission have been deployed to Kosovo as the legal situation remains unclear.
"Serbia's EU membership is the supreme national interest and this government will not give up on it," Mr Tadic said, according to Reuters news agency. But he added that his country "will never give up on its territorial integrity and sovereignty."