Serbia can only achieve full cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal once wartime Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic is at The Hague court, the Dutch Foreign Minister tells Balkan Insight.

Maxime Verhagen also revealed in an interview with Balkan Insight that in spring, Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic promised his European counterparts that if a pro-European government came to power in Belgrade then the first thing Serbia's government will do is arrest Mladic.

"We discussed at the signing of the SAA with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremic, exactly those conditions, that there was from the beginning no difference of opinion on what was expected and what was hoped for from Serbia. Jeremic also assured `when we win the elections, we will arrest Mladic`,Ó Verhagen said.

Seven months on after the election, and Mladic - who is accused among other war crimes of genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, including the massacre of some 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in Srebrenica in 1995 - is still evading justice.

Serbia signed a key European Union pre-membership deal in April but due to ongoing opposition from the Netherlands, Belgrade cannot reap the benefits of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, until Mladic is at The Hague.

Asked whether his country could agree to "unfreeze" the SAA if Mladic is not arrested he said: "I have always said that having Mladic in Scheweningen is the best proof of full cooperation. What we want is full cooperation with The Tribunal."

Source: BalkanInsight.com