SERBIA:Foreign minister Vuk Jeremic says Serbia hopes to sign a key pre-accession pact with the European Union later this month, despite Belgrade's failure to catch war crimes suspect Gen Ratko Mladic and its anger at Brussels' support for an independent Kosovo.
"Serbia hopes that we are going to be able to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) on the 28th of January," Mr Jeremic said, referring to a deal that paves the way for eventual membership of the EU.
In a move to pacify Serb anger over Kosovo's looming independence and bolster pro-western president Boris Tadic in his contest with ultra-nationalists in this month's election, the EU initialled an SAA with Belgrade before Christmas.
Despite lobbying from some member states, however, Brussels has refused to fully sign the deal with Serbia until the long-awaited capture of Gen Mladic, who is accused of genocide against Bosnia's Muslims and is believed to be hiding in Serbia.
But Mr Jeremic insisted that full co-operation with the UN court at The Hague was the crucial factor in persuading Brussels to sign the SAA, not the actual arrest of Gen Mladic, who is still widely lionised in Serbia and has enjoyed the protection of some within the Serb security services.
Mr Jeremic said he expected a visit to Belgrade in the coming weeks from Serge Brammertz, the successor as chief UN war crimes prosecutor to Carla del Ponte.
Slovenia, which now holds the EU presidency, wants Serbia to sign the SAA at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 28th, but several powerful member states strongly disagree.
Serbia's nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica has said he will refuse to sign any agreement that casts doubt on Kosovo's status as part of Serb territory.
The EU has urged him not to link the two issues, and Mr Jeremic - an ally of Mr Tadic's, not Mr Kostunica's - seemed to accept that yesterday.
"The process of determining the future status of Kosovo and the process of the European integration of Serbia are two separate processes," he said.
