EU says Karadzic arrest is boost for Serb ties

By Mark John and Ingrid Melander

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Serbia's arrest of wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is a milestone on its road to joining the European Union but Belgrade must go further to reap the full benefits, EU ministers said on Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the arrest of the man wanted for planning and ordering Europe's worst atrocities since World War Two showed Belgrade was willing to cooperate fully with the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague.

That was the precondition set by EU states in April for implementing a deal on closer ties with Serbia, putting it fully on track to ultimate membership of the bloc.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on the bloc to allow Serbia to enjoy improved trading conditions, insisting Belgrade must have something to show for the step.

But some countries at the EU foreign ministers' meeting, including the Netherlands, were reserved about the idea.

Several stressed that Karadzic's wartime military commander, Ratko Mladic, also wanted for genocide, was still at large.

"We've been waiting for this for 13 years," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the presidency of the 27-nation EU.

"Things will be easier, but let's not prejudge anything ... Karadzic has been arrested but Mladic has not."