European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to lift an obstacle in the path of Serbia's entry to the bloc, but also urged Belgrade to do more to catch suspected war criminals, diplomats said.

During talks on enlarging the economic and trade bloc of 27 members, EU ministers unblocked an interim trade agreement with Belgrade in a decision that could allow the former Yugoslav republic to apply for EU membership.
 

The decision marks a remarkable turnaround for the Balkan state, which spent a decade at war with its neighbours during the 1990s after the break up of Yugoslavia.
 

While it represents a warming of ties with Serbia, further progress towards EU membership talks will depend on Belgrade's cooperation with war crimes prosecutors investigating the role Serb military forces played in the Balkans wars.
 

"The Netherlands agreed to unblock entry into force of the trade agreement following the views from the (U.N. war crimes tribunal) prosecutor," one EU diplomat said. The Netherlands had been the biggest obstacle in the way of a deal.
 

Another said that, while the Netherlands had lifted its objection, it insisted that further progress had to be made before the EU could offer any further incentives to Belgrade - in the form of an EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
 

"We are going to recognise positive developments by de-blocking the interim agreement. At the same time the EU will keep up the pressure and therefore it has not put the SAA up for ratification yet," an EU diplomat said.

The SAA, the first major step towards EU membership, was signed along with the interim agreement last year, but the Netherlands blocked their implementation, saying chief war crimes suspect, Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, needed to be caught first.
 

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, told ministers Serbia was cooperating well with his inquiries but it was a fragile situation and further pressure was needed.
 

Cautious future
Diplomats said the ministers agreed to re-assess Serbia's efforts to capturing war suspects in six months, after Brammertz releases his next report.
 

Serbia had hoped the arrest last year of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic would clear its path to EU membership. Any progress shown with Mladic may be a key factor before the association agreement with Serbia is ratified.
 

Mladic has been indicted by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague for genocide over the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica, where Dutch troops were stationed to guard what was supposed to be a U.N. safe haven, and the siege of Sarajevo.
 

Serbia's southern neighbour, Macedonia, is also waiting to start entry talks.
 

A draft statement for Monday's meeting, obtained by Reuters, showed the issue of launching talks will be taken up only in March, in hopes the ex-Yugoslav state succeeds in solving a dispute with Greece over its name by the time.

Greece prevented Macedonia joining NATO last year, saying its name implied territorial claims to a Greek province also called Macedonia. The issue has blocked EU progress, too.

"Maintaining good neighbourly relations, including a negotiated and mutually acceptable solution on the name issue, under the auspices of the U.N., remains essential," the draft conclusions read.

Turkish compliance with its commitments on EU membership was also discussed by the EU ministers. They were expected to criticise Turkey for its failure to open ports and airports to neighbouring Cyprus.

"Progress is now expected without delay," the draft said.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, but is under pressure to make good on a promise to cooperate with its southern neighbour under a deal that enabled it to start accession talks in 2005.

Source: Reuters