EU officials and Brammertz clash over Serbia
ZELJKO PANTELIC Today @ 09:31 CET Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor at the UN War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague, is entangled in a dispute over Serbia with EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele and the bloc's foreign policy head Catherine Ashton. The EU officials are willing to give, as soon as possible, a political reward to Serbian President Boris Tadic to compensate for Belgrade's last minute compromise on the text of a Kosovo resolution in the UN General Assembly last month. Ashton has promised Tadic to try her best to convince EU Foreign Ministers to forward Serbia's application for EU membership to the European Commission, which has to give its opinion before the country can be nominated as an official candidate for accession. <http://ad.de.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/3a2c/0/0/%2a/x;44306;0-0;0;52744570;4307-300/250;0/0/0;;~aopt=2/0/4e/0;~sscs=%3f> Description: Click here to find out more! Description: http://ads.euobserver.com/www/delivery/lg.php?bannerid=393&campaignid=247&zoneid=35&loc=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwaz.euobserver.com%2F887%2F30981&cb=1458afa7a4 "There is a big question mark as regards forwarding the Serbian application in October. I believe ministers will discuss it at the Luxembourg council meeting, but without taking a decision", a diplomat from one EU member country deeply involved in the Serbian dossier told WAZ.euobserver. "In the best scenario, the foreign ministers could agree that a report by Brammertz in December, which is positive on Serbian co-operation, would be sufficient to give the green light for passing on the application to the Commission", the diplomat said. Brammertz has countered Ashton's and Fuele's plans with public statements that Serbia fails to do everything to arrest the two remaining fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, wanted by ICTY for alleged war crimes. The Netherlands has always linked its position on Serbia and the EU to the ICTY prosecutor's assessment on Belgrade's co-operation with the Hague Tribunal. The Dutch position is crucial as EU decisions on the enlargement process need unanimous approval in the council of ministers. Fuele called Brammertz complaining that his statements did not help and had been badly timed, a source familiar with the content of the telephone conversation told WAZ.euobserver. Commissioner Fuele later repeated his criticism of Brammertz to EU officials, without convincing all of them. "Serbia cannot play with its obligation to fully cooperate with the ICTY and to do everything to arrest Ratko Mladic. It is absolutely understood that the EU should do something for Serbia. But it mustn't be a concession on Serbia's duty to arrest and deliver Ratko Mladic," said one official from an EU state in the so-called Contact Group comprising the UK, France, Italy, Germany, plus the US and Russia. Brammertz, despite Fuele's critical remarks, continued to give interviews in which he urged the EU to maintain its pressure on Serbia to arrest Mladic. "It is important for the EU to stick to the principle of conditionality that links the enlargement process to full and complete co-operation with the tribunal," he told Belgian dailies La Libre Belgique and De Standaard. The Chief Prosecutor had been clearly dissatisfied with Serbia's approach already in his last report and only refrained from spelling it out because an EU decision imminent at the time to start the process of ratification of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia. "Without significant results produced by Belgrade in the next weeks, it is likely that the next Brammertz report will not be positive enough to open the door to candidate status for Serbia", a source close to Brammertz told WAZ Euobserver. Brammertz put further pressure on Serbia in a speech in the Dutch Parliament's European Affairs Committee on Wednesday, declaring that if Mladic wasn't arrested within the next three to six months the current Hague Tribunal would not be able to prosecute him. The Tribunal has time until 2014 to finish with appeals. "The only good solution is to arrest Mladic rapidly," Brammertz told the lawmakers who had invited him to brief them on Serbian cooperation with the ICTY. In the Dutch parliament, all political parties have so far supported the tough line on Serbia http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30981
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