Serbia can be EU candidate without Mladic arrest

Serbia can become a candidate to join the European Union even if the most wanted war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic is not arrested, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said Tuesday.

“It is not a condition that Mladic and (the other remaining fugitive) Goran Hadzic should be arrested and be transferred, it is the political will and the efficiency of the cooperation of your government with ICTY” (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia), that counts, Asselborn said in Belgrade.

Asselborn said Serbia could get candidacy status by the end of the year if, among other conditions, it is fully devoted to the search for the fugitives.