EU to buoy Serbia entry drive by initialing pact

By Mark John

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union agreed to initial the pact representing Serbia's first step on the road to membership on Tuesday but said it would hold off fully endorsing it until Belgrade brings its war crimes suspects to justice.

EU officials hope the move will help keep Serbia's EU aspirations on track during the show-down over the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo, whose independence claim many Western observers fear could plunge the region into instability.

Presenting a report on patchy reform efforts by Western Balkans EU hopefuls, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he would initial a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Belgrade on Wednesday.

He said he expected the deal, the first rung on the long ladder to membership, to be formally signed next year, but only if Serbia works with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

"This marks a real turning point for Serbia," Rehn told a news conference. "Now Serbia has to go the last mile and achieve full cooperation." The tribunal says Belgrade must arrest and hand over suspects such as Bosnia Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic, who is sought on genocide charges.

Rehn said he chose to initial Serbia's SAA after U.N. chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte noted better access to documents and more will by the new government to make arrests.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the state news agency Tanjug the move showed Belgrade "can at the same time successfully handle European integration ... and defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country".

While EU officials want to avoid having an isolated and disgruntled Serbia on their doorstep, they deny any link between its membership drive and efforts to resolve Kosovo's fate.

Serbian Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said he expected Serbia to be recognized as a formal candidate by the end of 2008 -- an ambitious target given established EU procedures.

"We have prepared everything, and it just was a matter of the day when the initialing takes place," he told Reuters.

Human Rights Watch said the EU move could hurt efforts to bring war criminals to justice. "Commissioner Rehn is rewarding Serbia even as it harbors a general accused of genocide," said Lotte Leicht, an EU advocate with the campaign group.

CORRUPTION RIFE

Rehn said he also expected to sign an SAA with Bosnia next year. That country's membership drive has stalled over its failure to create a unified state-level police force.

The commissioner said there had been mixed progress in the Western Balkans. He said corruption remained a serious problem across the region -- notably in Kosovo -- and underlined the need for better governance in Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro.

Only Croatia was seen having a realistic chance of entering the bloc in the next five years, with membership for most of the others seen sometime between 2012-15 or later.