BELGRADE, Dec 28 (Hina) - The European Union may resume negotiations with Serbia in February or March next year, but three conditions have to be met - a new government of the democratic bloc must be elected in the January 21 vote, the
new prime minister should state clearly and openly that Ratko Mladic will be arrested, and documents proving progress in the search for Mladic must be submitted, the head of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, said on Thursday.
BELGRADE, Dec 28 (Hina) - The European Union may resume
negotiations with Serbia in February or March next year, but three conditions
have to be met - a new government of the democratic bloc must be elected in the
January 21 vote, the new prime minister should state clearly and openly that
Ratko Mladic will be arrested, and documents proving progress in the search for
Mladic must be submitted, the head of the National Council for Cooperation
with the Hague war crimes tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, said on Thursday.
"Those are clear and unambiguous signals that we have received from Brussels,"
Ljajic told Vecernje Novosti daily, adding that he was confident the EU would
reward the new democratic government and give it a strong encouragement even if
Mladic was not put behind bars by that time.
Talks on stabilisation and association between Serbia and the EU will
be completed in June, but they will not lead to the signing of a Stabilisation
and Association Agreement as long as the runaway indictee Ratko Mladic is at
large.
The EU will maintain its credibility by insisting on the fulfilment of
the last condition. We should not delude ourselves about that in the least,
Ljajic said.
The talks between Serbia and the EU were discontinued in May this year
because Serbia failed to arrest Mladic and hand him over to the UN war crimes
tribunal.