Brussels, 23/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission may recommend at the Council meeting on 27 February that the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers break off the negotiations to conclude a stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) with Serbia if, between now and then, the Serbs do not substantially improve their cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY). This was what Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn gave to understand in front of the European Parliament's committee on foreign affairs on Thursday.
Since April 2005, when several suspects were transferred to the ICTY, Belgrade's cooperation with the Hague “has unfortunately deteriorated” and, despite improvements over the last few weeks, it is “still too little”, Mr. Rehn deplored to MEPs. Next Monday, Mr Rehn is to present his report on the state of cooperation in Serbia-Montenegro with the ICTY to the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the EU, and the discussion in the Council will be based on a joint declaration adopted in October 2005 by the Council and the Commission, explained Mr Rehn. This declaration (which has not been published and which the Commissioner read to MEPs) stipulates that “the Council and the Commission are in agreement on the fact that negotiations should be suspended in the Commission deems that Serbia-Montenegro, at any time, does not respond in a satisfactory manner to the issues highlighted by the Commission communication on the preparation of Serbia-Montenegro for the negotiation of a stabilisation and association agreement”. Among these issues is, of course, cooperation with the ICTY.
In frank terms, “if Serbia does not achieve total cooperation (with the ICTY), we cannot avoid an interruption to negotiations”, warned Commissioner Rehn, later clarifying to a handful of journalists what he understands by “interruption”: “for me, “interruption” is very clear: we will not continue the negotiations” with Belgrade if it does not substantially improve its cooperation with the ICTY, which should ultimately result in the arrest of all suspects, including Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. Officials in Belgrade must in all urgency translate the political will expressed into concrete actions, appealed Mr Rehn, who was at pains to stress that he had made this message quite clear in his tour of the Balkans with the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso last week. “There is no room for misunderstandings” on this point, he said.
Mr Rehn's warning comes as highly contradictory information on the arrest of General Ratko Mladic has been circulated in the Serb press over the last few days. The government in Belgrade and the Prosecutor General of the ICTY Carla Del Ponte have denied all information claiming the arrest of Mr Mladic or negotiations for his arrest.