Brussels, 23/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - During Monday's lunch, EU foreign ministers took stock of several issues concerning the Western Balkans.
Serbia: The Interim Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) still remains blocked by the Netherlands which continues to call for Radko Mladic to be arrested before making the slightest gesture towards Belgrade. At the request of the Serbian government, ministers evoked the idea of sending a fact-finding mission to Serbia in order to assess the degree of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This idea did not receive the necessary support, not even from the Czech Presidency which considers it is up to the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, to rule whether Serbia meets the criteria of full cooperation (Mr Brammertz, however, refuses to play this role). An EU fact-finding mission would even be “counter-productive”, Mr Schwarzenberg says, announcing that the dossier will come up at Council in March.
Montenegro. The request for membership remains blocked, as ministers have still not given their unanimous approval for asking the Commission to prepare its “opinion”. Commissioner Olli Rehn nonetheless said the discussion during the Council meeting was “constructive and positive” and trusts that the situation will develop in a positive manner between now and March. (H.B./transl.jl)