The Presidency of the European Union has taken note of the reports presented to the UN Security Council on 18 June 2007 by Fausto Pocar, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and Carla del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY. The Presidency stresses that the full cooperation of all States of the former Yugoslavia with the ICTY is absolutely crucial to achieving lasting reconciliation in the region. It is also a requirement for moving closer to the European Union.
In this context, the EU Presidency welcomes the recent arrests of Zdravko Tolimir and Vlastimir Djordjevic and their transfer to the ICTY, and congratulates the ICTY and the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, whose cooperation made these arrests possible.
The EU Presidency appeals to all relevant parties to maintain the current momentum and ensure that all those who have been indicted but are still at large, especially Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, are arrested and transferred to the ICTY.
The European Union will continue to support the ICTY’s work until it has been completed, presumably in 2010.
