"Serbia doing best to achieve full cooperation"

Belgrade's doing everything to achieve full Hague cooperation, but not all EU members agree, says Vuk Jeremic. Following talks today with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, the foreign minister, who is on a two-day working visit to Brussels, added however that he was still optimistic that it would be possible to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) on January 28, at the upcoming meeting of EU foreign ministers. "Serbia doing best to achieve full cooperation" "I conveyed to Commissioner Rehn the assurances of the Serbian government that we are really doing everything possible to complete full cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague," Jeremic said, adding that, unfortunately, not all EU members were of the same mind. "I hope that, by the end of the month, a consensus will be reached through diplomacy, and also in practice, with the new ICTY Chief Prosecutor (Serge Brammertz), who, most probably, will visit Belgrade in the coming months," the foreign minister said. Jeremic and Rehn also agreed on the formation of a special unit or task force that should steer all processes leading to Serbia's full membership of the EU. The task force, to be made up of the current Slovenian and future French presidencies, together with European Commission and Council of the Europe representatives, will be entrusted, Jeremic told reporters, with "helping Serbia meet all the conditions, both for signing the SAA, and for acquiring candidate status this year." He added that Rehn had asked him whether the Kosovo status process and European integration were to two separate processes to his mind. "I told him that Serbia's official position remained unchanged, and that the two processes were separate. They are two equally important processes for the government," said Jeremic. Vuk Jeremic (Tanjug, archive) Holland opposes signing SAA with Serbia Holland opposes Serbia signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) before Hague cooperation is completed. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said that the country was opposed to signing the agreement with Serbia before Hague fugitive Ratko Mladic was in the Hague Tribunal’s custody. “We insist on the condition demanding Serbia’s complete cooperation with the Tribunal. Mladic must be in the Hague. There will be no signing without cooperation,” Verhagen warned. The Dutch foreign minister added that Kosovo independence question was not directly tied to Belgrade’s desire to join the European Union. He said that the EU would be “fair towards Serbia,” but added that “conditions remain conditions.” At the moment, only Belgium shares Holland’s stance that the EU should remain strict with Serbia and not allow the SAA to be signed without complete Hague cooperation, according to AFP.

"Serbia doing best to achieve full cooperation"

"I conveyed to Commissioner Rehn the assurances of the Serbian government that we are really doing everything possible to complete full cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague," Jeremić said, adding that, unfortunately, not all EU members were of the same mind.

"I hope that, by the end of the month, a consensus will be reached through diplomacy, and also in practice, with the new ICTY Chief Prosecutor (Serge Brammertz), who, most probably, will visit Belgrade in the coming months," the foreign minister said.

Jeremić and Rehn also agreed on the formation of a special unit or task force that should steer all processes leading to Serbia's full membership of the EU.

The task force, to be made up of the current Slovenian and future French presidencies, together with European Commission and Council of the Europe representatives, will be entrusted, Jeremić told reporters, with "helping Serbia meet all the conditions, both for signing the SAA, and for acquiring candidate status this year."

He added that Rehn had asked him whether the Kosovo status process and European integration were to two separate processes to his mind.

"I told him that Serbia's official position remained unchanged, and that the two processes were separate. They are two equally important processes for the government," said Jeremić.

Holland opposes signing SAA with Serbia

Holland opposes Serbia signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) before Hague cooperation is completed.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said that the country was opposed to signing the agreement with Serbia before Hague fugitive Ratko Mladić was in the Hague Tribunal’s custody.

“We insist on the condition demanding Serbia’s complete cooperation with the Tribunal. Mladić must be in the Hague. There will be no signing without cooperation,” Verhagen warned.

The Dutch foreign minister added that Kosovo independence question was not directly tied to Belgrade’s desire to join the European Union. He said that the EU would be “fair towards Serbia,” but added that “conditions remain conditions.”

At the moment, only Belgium shares Holland’s stance that the EU should remain strict with Serbia and not allow the SAA to be signed without complete Hague cooperation, according to AFP.