Brussels, 01/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The transfer of Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Tuesday31 May was welcomed by Catherine Ashton. She described this as “an important moment for reconciliation in the region and for international justice”. The trial against the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity (particularly for the Srebrenica massacre), will “contribute to revealing the truth and will fulfil a duty to provide justice for the victims and their families”, explained the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs in a press release. Green MEPs Franziska Brantner (Germany) and Ulrike Lunacek (Austria) said the extradition of Mladic to The Hague provided additional proof that the Serbian government had made a clean break with the past and it allows Serbia to make a little more progress in obtaining the status of candidate country for joining the EU. Nonetheless the country's full and entire cooperation with the ICTY is not the only condition that Belgrade has to meet in order to satisfy the criteria for becoming a candidate country. The two MEPs underlined the fact that “Serbia's ability to be an integral part of today's Europe needs to be demonstrated in other areas as well”. They regretted, for example, that Belgrade had boycotted the meeting between leaders from Central and Eastern Europe with the American president, Barack Obama, last week in Warsaw because the president of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, had attended. The two MEPs said that this kind of attitude is “incompatible with Serbia's aspiration for EU candidate status”. They are calling for the “normalisation” of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. The Commission will give its opinion next October on Serbia's request for joining the EU. If the EU gives a positive recommendation (which is very probable) the European Council could decide to grant Serbia candidate status before the end of the year. (H.B./transl.fl)