BELGRADE, June 8 (Hina) - The European Parliament rapporteur on Serbia, Jelko Kacin, announced in Belgrade on Friday that his report on the country's progress to EU membership, to be presented later this month, would be positive, and
expressed hope that Serbia would meet its commitments to the Hague war crimes tribunal and arrest and hand over Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic.
BELGRADE, June 8 (Hina) - The European Parliament rapporteur on
Serbia, Jelko Kacin, announced in Belgrade on Friday that his report on the
country's progress to EU membership, to be presented later this month, would be
positive, and expressed hope that Serbia would meet its commitments to the
Hague war crimes tribunal and arrest and hand over Bosnian Serb wartime
military commander Ratko Mladic. Speaking at a press conference at
the end of his three-day visit, Kacin said he hoped the authorities in Belgrade
would not just make big promises, but would also meet their commitments in
cooperation with the EU.
He said that although the Serbian government had been formed only
recently, most ministries were keen for faster progress to the EU.
Kacin said that the public awareness of war crimes that had been
committed in the 1990s was higher in other countries that emerged after the
break-up of Yugoslavia than in Serbia.
"The Serbian public and in particular the Serbian Assembly can declare
their opinion on the genocide in Srebrenica. After that everything would be
easier," Kacin said, adding that Serbia should arrest Mladic "for its own sake
and for the sake of its credibility."