Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I am speaking about the Council. The chief prosecutor is, of course, anxious to maintain pressure but equally he has stated that he presents the matter as he sees it and it is for us as Ministers and Governments to make our decisions.

When I met the Serbian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jeremíc, in New York he pointed out that his Government has already done the heavy lifting in regard to the political difficulties of handing over people. It has handed over three former presidents and 44 of the 46 indictees have been arrested. Last March, the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade issued a declaration condemning the Srebenica massacre. The wartime notebooks of Mladic were handed to the ICTY in May. In July, the Serbian and Croatian Presidents staged a joint visit to Bosnia for the Srebenica commemoration. In September, nine former paramilitaries were indicted by the country's war crimes prosecutor for the killing of ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo conflict.

The joint EU-Serbia resolution on Kosovo represented a very important event at the UN General Assembly in September. Concerns initially arose that Serbia would not co-operate with the EU proposal at the UN but considerable pressure was exerted and it ultimately agreed with a resolution brokered by the High Representative, Baroness Catherine Ashton. One has to act in good faith.

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