Brussels, 28/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - Failing the unanimous political agreement necessary for the EU to be able to immediately sign a Stabilisation and Associate Agreement (SAA) with Serbia due to the country's failure to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY, see below), EU foreign ministers decided on Monday 28 January to offer to sign an 'interim political agreement' with Serbia in Brussels on 7 February. The agreement would enable a strengthening of political dialogue and economic and trade relations between the EU and Serbia, and would also allow talks to continue on visa facilitation while awaiting the signing and coming into force of an SAA, explained Slovenian foreign minister, current head of the Council of the EU, Dimitrij Rupel, to reporters on Monday evening. The EU is also offering to create a Task Force to help prepare the next stages in Serbia's integration process including, and this would be the first step to be met by Serbia, meeting the criterion of 'full cooperation' with the ICTY (the criterion remains in place, explained Rupel) in order to allow the signing of an SAA as soon as possible.
Rupel said the EU27 offer sent a 'positive, encouraging message' to Serbia and showed that the EU's door was open to the country, adding that the EU spoke with a single voice on Serbia. The Council's aim was to send out an encouraging message to help the pro-EU forces in Belgrade less than a week ahead of the 3 February presidential elections in the country.
On the question of signing an SAA, the Netherlands refused to budge. It refuses to sign the SAA until Serbia fully cooperates with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (in The Hague). 'Full cooperation' means, for the Dutch authorities, the arrest and handing-over of the former military head of the Serbs in Bosnia, Radko Mladic, to the ICTY in The Hague, who is accused of genocide following the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995. Dutch foreign minister Maxim Verhagen told colleagues on Monday that the Netherlands was prepared to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia as soon as it hands over the persons wanted by the court. Belgium backs the Netherlands but does not appear to be making Mladic's arrest a precondition for signing an SAA. Germany and the United Kingdom also hold strong reservations about signature without the go-ahead from the ICTY. All other member states were prepared to the sign the SAA on 28 January or at least to set a date for its signing in the very near future. Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, who has always taken a firm line over respect for full cooperation with the ICTY, is being more flexible and calling for the SAA to be signed but without giving up on demanding respect of the criteria. He told the Council on Monday that the conditions for full cooperation with the court should remain in place for the SAA's ratification and for any further steps. EU High Representative Javier Solana favours signing of the SAA. (H.B.)