Đelić: Secret services not doing enough

Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz’s stand is that Serbian secret services did not do enough to arrest the fugitives, Deputy PM Bozidar Djelic said. “Without ascertainment of full cooperation with The Hague there will be no beginning of negotiations on Serbia’s EU membership,” he told daily Blic. Djelic: Secret services not doing enough He said that such ascertainment would not be enough for some countries at the moment and that they would not begin the negotiations before Ratko Mladic was extradited to The Hague. “The Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz told the MEPs that Serbian secret services were not working fast enough and with enough resources. That ascertainment is the biggest obstacle to get the candidate status and especially for the beginning of the negotiations,” the deputy PM explained. He spent the last several days in Brussels, where the European Parliament ratified Serbia’s Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU and adopted the resolution on Serbia’s European integration with an overwhelming majority. Djelic said that there had been a very positive atmosphere during the European Parliament’s session, that the MEPs respected Serbia’s stands but also insisted that it needed to do more in order to address the main issues. According to him, the biggest issue is the issue of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. “There is a consensus about this among everybody in the EU. It is interesting that all political groups in the parliament submitted the amendment which more clearly points out that the Hague condition was key for receiving the candidate status. Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz told the MEPs last week that Serbia was not appropriating enough resources and that they were not acting quickly enough when they received information and suggestions,” the deputy PM pointed out. He noted that Brammertz thought that secret services were most responsible for failing to fulfill the condition. “We explained that Serbia was really doing everything it could, but the prosecutor, who will write the report, has a different opinion and we have to bridge that gap in assessments. The first opportunity for that will be during Brammertz’s visit to Serbia in February. It’s important that his criticism is based on facts and not on impressions and that it is not general,” Djelic was quoted as saying. He repeated that the Dutch parliament had decided to wait for Brammertz’s report before ratifying the SAA with Serbia. “The Dutch foreign minister has repeated that the best proof of full cooperation would be the arrest and extradition of Mladic and Hadzic, which means that, even though it would be the best, it’s not the only one. We’re close to the situation when Croatia got the date for the beginning of negotiations but it was delayed until Gotovina was found. Our goal is that all countries ratify the SAA by the end of the year and accept the beginning of negotiations for the EU accession,” the deputy prime minister stressed. Bozidar Djelic (FoNet, file)

Đelić: Secret services not doing enough

He said that such ascertainment would not be enough for some countries at the moment and that they would not begin the negotiations before Ratko Mladić was extradited to The Hague.

“The Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz told the MEPs that Serbian secret services were not working fast enough and with enough resources. That ascertainment is the biggest obstacle to get the candidate status and especially for the beginning of the negotiations,” the deputy PM explained.

He spent the last several days in Brussels, where the European Parliament ratified Serbia’s Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU and adopted the resolution on Serbia’s European integration with an overwhelming majority.

Đelić said that there had been a very positive atmosphere during the European Parliament’s session, that the MEPs respected Serbia’s stands but also insisted that it needed to do more in order to address the main issues.

According to him, the biggest issue is the issue of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.

“There is a consensus about this among everybody in the EU. It is interesting that all political groups in the parliament submitted the amendment which more clearly points out that the Hague condition was key for receiving the candidate status. Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz told the MEPs last week that Serbia was not appropriating enough resources and that they were not acting quickly enough when they received information and suggestions,” the deputy PM pointed out.

He noted that Brammertz thought that secret services were most responsible for failing to fulfill the condition.

“We explained that Serbia was really doing everything it could, but the prosecutor, who will write the report, has a different opinion and we have to bridge that gap in assessments. The first opportunity for that will be during Brammertz’s visit to Serbia in February. It’s important that his criticism is based on facts and not on impressions and that it is not general,” Đelić was quoted as saying.

He repeated that the Dutch parliament had decided to wait for Brammertz’s report before ratifying the SAA with Serbia.

“The Dutch foreign minister has repeated that the best proof of full cooperation would be the arrest and extradition of Mladić and Hadžić, which means that, even though it would be the best, it’s not the only one. We’re close to the situation when Croatia got the date for the beginning of negotiations but it was delayed until Gotovina was found. Our goal is that all countries ratify the SAA by the end of the year and accept the beginning of negotiations for the EU accession,” the deputy prime minister stressed.