Netherlands Criticises EU Leniency Towards Serbia

Netherlands Criticises EU Leniency Towards Serbia

BRUSSELS, 14/02/07 - Foreign Minister Bot considers his EU fellow-ministers are not being strict enough with Serbia. He regrets that closer links are targeted without cast-iron conditions on tracking down suspected war criminals.
EU foreign ministers agreed Monday that the EU would welcome further rapprochement with Serbia. A codicil was added stating that the Serbian government must show willingness to cooperate with the UN Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and also take measures to this end. Bot had to work very hard to get this condition into the EU statement.
Bot found himself supported solely by France and Belgium. The other EU countries want closer links with Serbia without still concerning themselves about the hunt for General Radko Mladic, he suggested.
Bot was particularly annoyed by the "lack of backbone" on the part of the British, who were still in agreement with the Netherlands last month. "The British said nothing whatsoever in the meeting. They sat by and looked on."