UPDATE: EU-Serbia Economic Pact Frozen by War Crimes

LUXEMBOURG - Officials from the European Union (EU) and Serbia today signed a pre-EU membership pact, but the promised trade and assistance will be frozen until Serbia further cooperates with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). 

It is unclear what is expected under the terms of the agreement, but leaders in the EU have expressed opinions that either Serbia surrender Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military leader indicted for genocide, or that Serge Brammertz, ICTY's current chief prosecutor, declare that Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY is satisfactory. 

The pact commits the EU to admitting Serbia into the trade bloc if it meets the conditions of the agreement, but no EU state will begin to ratify the agreement until the ICTY conditions have been met.  Leadership on both sides see the move as largely symbolic, and an effort to stem the rising Serbian nationalist party, which prefers closer ties with Moscow than the EU.

For more information, please see:

Impunity Watch - ICTY Prosecutor Visits Serbia, Requests Further Cooperation - 19 April 2008

International Herald Tribune - EU cracks door for Serbia in advance of vote - 29 April 2008