Belgium, Netherlands give conditional green light for EU-Serbia pact

(BRUSSELS) - Belgium and the Netherlands are ready to accept a European Union accord with Serbia, but insist its implementation depends on full Serbian war crimes tribunal cooperation, Belgium's foreign ministry said Saturday.

The two countries would agree to a proposed Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), but "Serbia should not benefit from the advantages of this accord without full cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)," Belgian foreign ministry spokesman Francois Delhaye told AFP.

The pact would bring Serbia a step closer to EU membership.

Most EU members favour signing the SAA, but the Dutch and Belgian governments believe Belgrade should first help bring former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, one of the most wanted men in Europe, to the United Nations court.

Serbia has come in for criticism especially from the former prosecutor at the Hague war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte, for perceived failure to cooperate in arresting war crimes suspects dating from the 1990s Balkan wars.

Pressure from other EU countries on Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen to drop opposition to the pact has mounted ahead of Serbian elections next month.

The Belgian and Dutch position, outlined in a letter to Slovenia, which currently holds the EU presidency, was expected to be discussed by EU foreign ministers next Tuesday, the Belgian spokesman added.

"Our basic position has not changed, but we are ready to seek a common position permitting this symbolic gesture," he said.

"Full cooperation means the arrest of those still being sought.

"There are a certain number of people we know could be arrested. For the others, cooperation would mean providing all available information, especially concerning their support network."

The conditional agreement offered by Belgium and the Netherlands could pave the way to the accord's signature before May 11 parliamentary elections in Serbia.

It would be seen as a signal to pro-EU parties in Serbia of the EU's goodwill towards Serbia, strengthening their hand against nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Kostunica called elections saying he could no longer govern the country with the pro-Europeans favouring EU membership despite the unilateral independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo, against the wishes of Serbia.