By Martin Banks - 20th June 2011
Now we must find Goran Hadžic and bring him to justice
Božidar Ðelic
Serbian deputy prime minister Božidar Ðelic told parliament that the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic was his country's "moral obligation and we did it".
Speaking in Brussels, Ðelic pledged, "Now we must find Goran Hadžic and bring him to justice."
Ðelic, who was addressing parliament's foreign affairs committee on EU enlargement and his country's membership credentials, said, "We will do our part to advance in the EU accession process.
"To all those who said they would be tough on Serbia, I now reply: yes, be tough, but not unfair. By inventing new hurdles to the accession process you will only discourage the Serbian population."
He asked the EU "to treat Kosovo with the same international standards" and to prosecute those responsible for alleged trafficking of organs and harvesting organs of Serbians in Kosovo.
Turning to his country's future negotiations with the EU, Ðelic outlined to MEPs a 96-point Serbian government action plan which he said was "intended to achieve a clear goal. This is that Serbia, based on merits, will be able to get both the candidate status and even the opening of negotiations next spring".
During a lively committee debate MEPs welcomed Serbia's arrest of Mladic but warned that its path to the EU "is still long".
A cross-party group of deputies, including Eduard Kukan, Richard Howitt, Ivo Vajgl and Charles Tannock, all said they welcomed the arrest of Mladic but pointed out that Hadžic, another Serb leader indicted for war crimes, was still on the run.
Kukan, an EPP member who chairs parliament's delegation for the western Balkans, welcomed the Serbian deputy PM's "good speech" but added that politicians in Serbia risk attributing too much importance to the impact of Mladic's arrest.
"You should not raise the expectations of your people too much, because the accession is not going to happen soon", he told Ðelic on Thursday.
However, Janos Martonyi, foreign minister of Hungary, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, was more optimistic.
He said, "Things are moving in Serbia. There is only the arrest of Mladic - I also see a more pro-European atmosphere in the political elite, the media and public opinion.
"Some technical progress has also been made in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, such as the registration of citizens, electricity supply and access to telecommunications. We hope that its candidate status and negotiation starting date can be fixed soon."
On Croatia's EU membership ambitions, the minister said, "We still have four chapters open, but two more weeks to go. We remain positive that all remaining chapters will be closed by 30 June at midnight. This is indeed possible".
Martonyi said Hungary was also satisfied with progress in negotiations with Iceland, for which, he said the first four chapters could be opened on 27 June, plus Montenegro and Serbia.
Hannes Swoboda, parliament's rapporteur on Croatia, told the committee that he would steer "a thorough and quick overview" of Croatia's progress through parliament as soon as negotiations close.
He also stressed the need to encourage Serbia's democratic forces with a clear EU signal in favour of enlargement.
