Brussels, 02/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - The whole of the European Union welcomed the arrest Slobodan Milosevic. The unanimous approval of this arrest, regarded as a further step towards democracy and the European Union, has not been accompanied by too pressing calls for Milosevic to be handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, for whom "Yugoslavia has taken another important step towards modern Europe". Declared that the EU "has always had confidence in the young democracy of Yugoslavia and its leaders, (who) have done the right thing in arresting Milosevic. Those accused of crimes against humanity must be brought to trial". For the EU High Representative for Cfsp Javier Solana "Serbia and Yugoslavia have taken another step towards the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law. The arrest of Slobodan Milosevic and the fair trial he is going to face will undoubtedly help all the population and the leadership of the FRY to come to terms with a legacy of many years of misrule and corruption". The Swedish Presidency of the EU Council welcomed "this important step towards bringing peace and justice to the region", as well as "other concrete steps taken by FRY/Serbian authorities to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia over the past weeks".
The Commissioner for external relations, Chris Patten, for his part, found it "right that Milosevic should answer to the Serbian people for the rimes he has committed against them, and in their name; his crimes were not just against Serbia but against humanity", he added. "For the sake of all his victims, and for the sake of stability and peace in the Balkans, Milosevic must ultimately face justice for those crimes", Patten declared, without however for that directly mentioning the War Crimes Tribunal of The Hague, nor calling for him to be immediately handed over to that Tribunal.
The Secretary-General of the Council of Europe welcomed this "encouraging news for the FRY and for Europe". "His arrest is a first step on the way to The Hague Tribunal", said Walter Schwimmer.