Serbs pressed to pursue war criminals before talks

Serbia:The European Union welcomed Serbia's new government yesterday but warned that it had to prove its commitment to catching war crimes suspects before talks on closer ties could resume.

Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn told president Boris Tadic and prime minister Vojislav Kostunica that negotiations on the so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) - a key step towards EU membership - could start again "very soon", as long as they stepped up their pursuit of fugitives such as Bosnian Serb Gen Ratko Mladic.

"It is correct that we are ready to resume SAA talks very soon, once the government programme is . . . rigorously implemented concerning EU integration and co-operation" with the UN war crimes tribunal, Mr Rehn said in Belgrade.

The comments disappointed some top pro-western politicians in Serbia, who hoped Mr Rehn would immediately resume talks in response to parliament's approval of a new government, just minutes before a deadline at midnight on Tuesday.

"I came to Belgrade in order to both congratulate and encourage the Serbian government," Mr Rehn said. "We are glad to see that the new government has in its programme a very clear commitment to European integration."

Serbia's leaders agreed a coalition deal when Mr Kostunica agreed to help oust ultra-nationalist parliamentary speaker Tomislav Nikolic and to share control of security and intelligence agencies with the more liberal Mr Tadic.

Brussels had denounced Mr Kostunica's previous support for Mr Nikolic and his persistent failure to catch Gen Mladic and other major war crimes suspects.

"I'm taking responsibility for that now. I'm going to push this process very hard," Mr Tadic said yesterday of the hunt for the fugitives.

The new government comprises Mr Tadic's Democratic Party, Mr Kostunica's nationalist conservative Democratic Party of Serbia and the smaller, liberal G17 Plus party. Mr Kostunica will remain as premier and Mr Tadic's allies will take 13 of 25 cabinet posts.

Brussels is keen to coax Serbia towards the West, undermine its powerful ultra-nationalists and persuade it to accept an independent Kosovo. But the coalition's leaders said that they would not accept progress towards EU membership as pay-off for relinquishing Kosovo.