EU keeps Serbia ties on hold, eyes post-poll review
Source: Reuters
(Adds final statement, Serb officials) BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - EU states decided on Monday against any early move to reopen partnership talks with Serbia frozen because of its failure to catch a key war crimes suspect but several countries urged a review after Jan. 21 elections. NATO's surprise move last month to open closer ties with Belgrade has cast the spotlight on the European Union's insistence that Serbia demonstrates full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal before it follows suit. But calls by Italy and several other countries for an early resumption of talks on a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards membership of the bloc, were blocked at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. Officials said there were proposals to review the situation as early as a day after a Serbian general election next month, which Brussels hopes will bolster the position of pro-European democrats in Belgrade. "The majority of states would like to wait for elections. There have been proposals to meet after those elections," Czech Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra told reporters. The EU suspended talks with Serbia in May after it failed to keep a promise to arrest former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, wanted on genocide charges over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in the Bosnian war. Since last month's NATO summit volte-face, the European Commission has spoken out against resuming talks until Belgrade has shown full cooperation with the Hague war crimes court. Instead, it has sought to encourage moderate forces by stressing that Serbia is well placed to catch up once talks can be relaunched. "The (EU) Council... underlined its readiness to support Serbia in its European course," ministers said in a statement that made no mention of restarting the SAA talks. Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country hosts the Hague war crimes tribunal and only reluctantly agreed to launching NATO talks with Serbia, insisted the EU must continue to insist on conditions. But he acknowledged: "There are some who want a more positive reference to this European perspective (for Serbia)." Serb officials hope that an EU summit on Thursday and Friday will go one step further with a declaration explicitly stating that Serbia can ultimately expect membership of the bloc.
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