Serbia misses EU deadline on Mladic handover
Serbia has failed to arrest top war crimes suspect general Ratko Mladic by the 30 April deadline set by the EU, making a suspension of talks on closer ties with Belgrade likely.
Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the UN tribunal in The Hague, and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn are to meet on Wednesday (3 May) to discuss the situation.
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Ms del Ponte's spokesman indicated that the UN prosecutor had waited to comment on Serbia as the Sunday deadline had been set by the EU and the government in Serbia itself.
Serbia-Montenegro opened talks on a Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in October 2005.
The agreement is seen as the first step on the country's path to eventual membership of the EU, with the next round of negotiations scheduled for 11 May.
Just hours before the deadline, Mr Rehn, said the commission would not recommend another postponement of the deadline, if the fugitive general is not delivered to The Hague.
There would be "no other option than to call off the next round of negotiations," the commissioner said on Friday (28 April).
The former Bosnian Serb military chief has been at large since the 1990s when he was charged with genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which around 8,000 muslim boys and men were killed.
He is thought to be hiding somewhere in Serbia.