EU Commissioner Warns Bosnian Serbs On Hague

16 November 2004 -- Chris Patten, the European Union's external affairs commissioner, today warned the leadership of Bosnia's Serb Republic that failure to hand over war crimes suspects to the UN war crimes tribunal is jeopardizing Bosnia's efforts to move toward the EU and NATO.

Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte is due to report to the UN Security Council next week on cooperation of countries with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Authorities in Bosnia's Serb entity are under international pressure to bring indicted war criminals to justice, but have yet to deliver any suspects to the Hague-based court.

Patten told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that del Ponte has been "quite clear that Republika Srpska has not been cooperating at all." He urged Bosnian Serb authorities "to take action now" to fulfill their obligations.

(Reuters)