Prague, 08/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Czech EU Presidency is calling for ratification and swift implementation of the stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) with Serbia. The interim SAA (on the trade chapter) as well as the ratification process of the main agreement are currently blocked by the Netherlands which is calling for Belgrade to first arrest Radko Mladic, accused of war crimes, in order to transfer him to the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. “The work of the ICTY has my full support and I consider that we must absolutely arrest and judge war criminals, but I believe that we should not penalise a whole country (Serbia) for just one criminal”, said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, speaking to European journalists in Prague on Thursday 8 January. In his view, the Serbian authorities are already doing “everything in their power” to cooperate with the ICTY. It is in the interest of the whole of Europe to integrate the Western Balkans into the EU, he said. It would be a serious mistake to leave a “black hole” in Europe which would remain a permanent factor of instability. (H.B./transl.jl)