Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin. On 25 October the General Affairs Council decided unanimously to refer Serbia's 2009 application for EU membership to the European Commission for its opinion. This is a technical step and usually happens quickly following the submission of an application. The period for the formulation of that opinion has no specific timeframe, although the Commission's research on Serbia's application is likely to take several months and a report is not expected until the second half of 2011.

It is important to bear in mind that the Commission's formulation of its opinion on Serbia's application represents just one stage in a lengthy process. It is for the Council to decide at each stage whether to move the process forward. This decision must be made with the agreement of all member states.

At the General Affairs Council of 25 October, Ministers reaffirmed that the future of the western Balkans lies in the EU and reiterated that each country's progress towards accession depends on individual efforts to comply with the Copenhagen criteria and the conditionality of the stabilisation and association process. The Council also underlined that a constructive approach towards regional co-operation is essential and called for progress in the process of EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. The Council recalled that, in line with the political criteria of Copenhagen, full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, is an essential condition for membership of the EU and that Serbia's full co-operation with the ICTY is required by articles 2 and 4 of the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement. The Council called upon Serbia to implement recommendations presented by the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor to the United Nations Security Council in June 2010 concerning Serbia's support in ongoing trials and appeals and Serbia's assistance in the key matter of the arrest of the two remaining fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic. In addition, the Council emphasised that at each stage of Serbia's path towards EU accession further steps will be taken only when the Council unanimously decides that full co-operation with the ICTY exists.

I share the widespread revulsion at the appalling massacres at Srebrenica and elsewhere during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and I, too, want to see the perpetrators brought to justice as soon as possible. Regrettably, as we know from experience elsewhere, including in this country, justice can sometimes take time to deliver. Serbia must do all in its power to ensure that Mladic and Hadzic are handed over to the ICTY.

We should acknowledge the substantial progress Serbia has made in the ten years since public outrage led to the end of the Miloševic regime. Serbia today is a different place from the Serbia of Miloševic because of the courageous decisions of governments in Belgrade since then. Over the past year in particular, we have seen a number of positive developments which demonstrate that Serbia's Government has moved away from the destructive politics of past decades. The positive developments this year include the handing over of the wartime notebooks of Ratko Mladic to the ICTY in May, the indictment in September of nine former paramilitaries by the country's war crimes prosecutor over the killing of ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo conflict, the joint visit by the Serbian and Croatian Presidents to Bosnia for the Srebrenica commemoration this July, the declaration by the Belgrade Parliament last March condemning the Srebrenica massacre, the appointment by Bosnia-Herzegovina in March of an ambassador in Belgrade for the first time in three years, and the joint EU-Serbia UN General Assembly resolution on Kosovo in September.

Serbia's Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, will visit Ireland next Tuesday, 23 November. I understand he will have an opportunity to meet the Joint Committee on European Affairs during his visit. When my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, met him in New York in September, he emphasised the importance Serbia attaches to EU integration. He also underlined Belgrade's commitment to working with the ICTY and his Government's determination to secure the arrest of the two remaining indictees. He pointed out that of the 46 indictees, Serbia has handed over 43 while one committed suicide before transfer to The Hague. The most likely means of achieving the arrest of Mladic and Hadzic lie in a combination of encouragement and pressure designed to empower the progressive elements in Serbia. It is important we send a signal to the people of Serbia of our recognition of the positive direction their country has taken in the past decade. The EU will continue to insist at every step in this process that Serbia is co-operating fully with the ICTY.