Serbia to seek Bush's help on NATO

Serbia to seek Bush's help on NATO

Partnership for Peace is the first of several steps that prepare a country for eventual membership in NATO. Governments that participate must meet several conditions, including requirements for the rule of law, democratic practices and civil control of defense and security forces.

"The decision by NATO not to offer us the Partnership for Peace program is a big mistake," said Vuk Jeremić, a senior adviser to Tadić.

"We intend to appeal to the Bush administration," said Jeremić, who was speaking Friday at the Körber Foundation in Berlin, which promotes dialogue involving Germany, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and countries of the former Soviet Union.

"What is at stake is the broader security of the region," Jeremić said. "There cannot be stability in the region without security and this means joining the Euro-Atlantic structures."

NATO's decision not to including Serbia in Partnership for Peace was seen as a rebuff to Tadić, who has taken a big risk since becoming president in 2004 by supporting membership in NATO. There is persistent resentment among Serbs over NATO's 1999 bombing campaign in which Serb targets were attacked to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians living in the Serbian - controlled province of Kosovo.

Tadić, who is leader of the Democratic Party, intends to make membership in NATO and the EU the main themes in advance of parliamentary elections, which will take place in January.

Tadić took over the leadership of the Democratic Party after the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić in 2003. He supports a free market economy and changes in the Defense Ministry and security services. He has called on Serbs to renounce nationalism and support the Hague tribunal on the former Yugoslavia in trying those allegedly involved in war crimes.

But several NATO countries have decided to delay extending the Partnership for Peace program to Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina until cooperation with the Hague court improves.

Several European countries are insisting that Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb commander in Bosnia, and Radovan Karadžić, the former Bosnian Serb leader, be arrested and sent to the Hague tribunal.