EU talks continuation unlikely

EU talks continuation unlikely

Đurić said the government will do all it can to complete the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, which is in Serbia’s best interest.

“It’s a pity that EU talks won’t be continued at this time, since that would motivate us to finalize the Hague cooperation as soon as possible. Regardless of that, the Serbian government will continue to do all it can to meet this condition, since it is in Serbia’s best interest”, Đurić told the press.

Prime minister Vojislav Koštunica will present Action Plan details and try to convince his hosts that the plan will soon yield concrete results.

Simić: Brussels won’t budge

President Boris Tadić’s recent encounters with EU officials were no more successful. His advisor Jovan Simić told B92 that Tadić presented his plan for Mladić’s arrest during his visit to Finland. The plan is supposed to be implemented after the next general election, should the new government include Tadić’s Democrats.

“What president Tadić tried to do was take responsibility for the problem and say, the moment the DS takes part in the government, this will be solved, because that’s precisely what happened with Milošević’s extradition”, Simić said.

Simić believes Brussels refused to soften its stance mostly due to the Hague Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte’s assessment that Mladić was in Serbia, and that the Action Plan was not fully functional.

“If we put these two facts together the only possible reports she could submit is that we have not done all to locate and arrest Mladić”, Simić concluded.

He added that although it was impossible to say state security services were in fact hiding the top Hague fugitive, it was still conceivable some former members or parts of these services are helping Mladić.

The government’s optimism that the EU negotiations might be continued as early as next week has now been replaced with a hope that they may be continued soon – some hope by the end of the month, while others say Serbia can still expect some concessions from Brussels ahead of the general election as a sign of support for the democratic forces in the country.