Brussels, 01/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - Monday's External Relations Council adopted conclusions on the Western Balkans whereby Member States urge Bosnia-Herzegovina to “pursue with conviction the achievement of all reforms required for opening talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union”. The foreign ministers also stressed that they fully support the measures taken on 16 December 2004 by the EU's High Representative and Special Representative, Lord Ashdown, with a view to encouraging Bosnia-Herzegovina to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). To this end, the Council has decided to extend measures already in force to prevent the entry onto EU territory of persons supporting individuals indicted by the ICTY to nine persons who have also been the subject of Paddy Ashdown's measures. The Council also recalled that full cooperation with the ICTY, especially on the part of the Republika Srpska, is “an essential requirement” for bringing Bosnia-Herzegovina closer to the EU. The Council, moreover, welcomed the voluntary surrender and transfer to the ICTY in The Hague of indictee Savo Todovic. This is a first major step in the process of arrest and transfer of all those indicted who are being sought by international justice, the Council's conclusions state. In October 2004, the Council had already reaffirmed the need for all Western Balkan states to step up their efforts to bring Karadzic, Mladic and Gotovina to justice, as well as all the other fugitives accused by the ICTY. The Council concludes on Monday that full and unrestricted cooperation with the ICTY remains an essential requirement for continued EU rapprochement.
Ministers also adopted on Monday, without debate, a decision by the EU to extend restrictive measures for twelve more months towards persons considered extremist in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Nine more people have been added to the list, making 21 in all. Restrictive measures aim to prevent entry onto EU territory of individuals who provide active support for or who take part in violent actions against the basic principles set out in the Ohrid framework agreement (stability, territorial integrity and the FYROM's united and multi-ethnic nature) and/or who deliberately hamper the implementation of the framework agreement by acts that are foreign to the democratic process.