Maxime Verhagen, the Netherlands foreign minister, has been backed by Dutch MPs in saying that the country would soften its stance on eased access to EU visas for Serbians but is standing firm against unblocking the EU’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia.
 
The Netherlands is adamant that it will not change its stance on the SAA until Serbia delivers most-wanted war criminals including Ratko Mladic.
 
In a letter to members of the Netherlands parliamentary committee on European Affairs, quoted in the Serbian media on June 12 2009, Verhagen said that the Dutch government was fully aware that most EU member states believed that Serge Brammertz’s stand – "that Serbia
has additionally made progress in co-operation with this court – needs to be
respected".
 
Verhagen said that Brammertz’s report had not said that Serbia was fully co-operating with the tribunal, but that progress was being made.
 
The Netherlands and Belgium were being asked to follow the stand of the vast majority of EU states, Verhagen told the Dutch MPs.
 
At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on June 15 and 16, and at an EU summit on June 19, the Netherlands will support an eased visa regime for Serbians.
 
But the Netherlands will continue to oppose implementation of the SAA, seen as a gateway towards EU membership.
 
Serbian president Boris Tadic told Serbia’s FoNet that Verhagen’s stand was positive, "but it is still not the time to say that it is all over". An atmosphere of unrealistic optimism should not be created, Tadic said.