Well Netherlands this is a big disappointment! Finally when you have decided to act firm regarding the joining of Serbia to EU before they deliver Mladic to the Hague, now you are showing that you are double minded.
Of course Serbia is not cooperating with the Tribunal because in their nationalistic and chauvinistic driven heads Mladic is hero and not a criminal.
I was proud to some extent that this country was firmly against the joining before they deliver the accused, now I'm hugely disappointed in Dutch politicians.

By troy | November 13, 2009 10:26 AM

Why do you Dutch people hate Serbia so much? Do yo not know that all you do is acting on behalf and for the benefits of the powers to be? You are simply disgusting in your ignorance...

By aleksandar | November 13, 2009 2:41 PM

There's two things in this world I can't stand;

People that are intolerant of others...and the Dutch.

By Greyle | November 13, 2009 3:35 PM

aleksandar: I don't think it's that we Dutch hate Serbia, it's just that we find it has a long history of being bigoted and genocidal. Turning in Mladic would be a good step toward earning the EU's -- not to mention the rest of world's -- goodwill and respect.

By Buzzer | November 13, 2009 4:05 PM

It is in the interest of the overall European conitinent which may not have a direct impact on Netherlands at the present time but in the years to come how the world evolves and the EU expands, Serbia's quick introduction into the EU could have positive effects to Holland aswell. Even though a common border is not shared, common beliefs and values have been there for many years, and Serbia being close to asia minor should be taken seriously in the overall interest of all nations in the EU, because its the outside influence of the populations of asia minor which would have negative effects on the whole of europe in the future, which Holland is a direct witness of. The situation in Srebrenica, which is only regarded using propaganda as a reason, should be left aside, the same as the Dutch left aside the occupation by Nazi Germany on there own soil who murdered many of its citizens yet found a mutual interest and joined the EU together, opening up its borders and through time building a relationship that does not look back on past experiences but looks forward to building new ones. We are all europeans, as the asians are who they are and the arabs represent themselves, we should also move forward to building this same unity, understanding and relationship.

By Branimir Maksimovic | November 13, 2009 9:20 PM

Listen, I am Dutch and the only reason I see for Holland changing its stance on Serbia is the fact that our prime minister Balkenende is in the running to become the the first president of the EU council of ministers. If he becomes that, Maxime Verhagen most likely will become our new prime minister. It is no secret that Holland with its tough stance on Serbia annoyed a lot of other European countries. So by changing its stance, the Dutch government hopes to gain support of other EU countries for the candidacy of our prime minister.

By Joe A | November 13, 2009 10:34 PM

"Earning place in the EU" is the most stupid thing I heard from any EU biggot so far! What is there to earn -is it "believing" in what EUSSR central committee decides, or is it to use taxes to pay fat and over-paid or often mentaly disturbed representatives of Nazi successors (as EU currently does - see examples of modern-day Nazis)....?

Pihhh, I would rather save Serbia from self-inflicted pollution!

EU, Thank you very much, but I would rather see Serbia to stay out of EU-created mess, if at all possible. No more bombing please - if you disagree!

By Belgian | November 13, 2009 11:38 PM

Buzzer,If you've read history you'll find that the Serbs were the first to liberate themselves from the Nazis despite hundreds of thousands being murdered in concentration camps by Ustasha and muslim SS volunteers.All sides in the Balkans wars committed massacres,All of them have their war criminals to which might be added the NATO aircrews that bombed Serbian civilian targets .

By jimo | November 14, 2009 12:56 AM

...and Dutch has a short history of helping Serbia being genocidal...

By ashley | November 14, 2009 7:03 AM

Buzzer,
It's all well and good to take a moral stand on this issue, but Serbs (and rightly so) see the Hague as a political court, and it clearly is when they let free the likes of Naser Oric & Haradinaj. Let's keep in mind the tradgedy of Bosina didn't have to happen - all sides agreed to a peace agreement (Vance Owen plan), to which the Bosnian muslims later withdrew from after receiving US backing for the war.
Goodwill and respect :)

By Tesho | November 14, 2009 10:16 AM

@buzzer:
Since you know the whole situation in serbia and the civil war there. How about Thatsi, the PM of kossovo and former leader of UCK, the once called terrorist group from EEC (at that time) and US?
@troy: serbians being nationalistic?? wake up they are loosing territories i.e. kossovo, how would you feel if part of your country would become "independent" with the help of americans and europeans? as for the hero..this is NONSENSE.
what i am bothered with is that serbians did commit crimes during the war, but no other party e.g. muslims (kossovarians-albanians), croatians payed their bill.
and generalising a little bit, so may war crimes in IRaq, afghanistan from the western powers, is somebody going to pay for them?
p.s. for the record, i am not serbian but greek.

By kos | November 14, 2009 11:27 AM

Dutch and EU are simply Saudi poodles just like the US state dept. So they ignore the Serb genocide and Muslim killers like Nasir Orice but want an Serb army man who was defending his country against terrorists.
See how they are treating Kardic when he gets no time to prepare his defence but head chopper Nasir Oric gets two years.

So Brussels Human Right court is a Kangaroo court were a Serb is always guilty but a Muslim never ever. Just look at their conviction record.

By Dave | November 14, 2009 1:22 PM

Dutch were causing problems and before.It is nothing new to those nationalists. They helped german Kaiser to who was responsible for ww1 to escape to Netherlands. They should think about that.

By timotimekvej | November 14, 2009 1:57 PM

Troy: Majority of Serbians are not like you presenting them, nationalistic and chauvinistic, and they as well as you, want to see Mladic behind the bars. You are just not correctly informed...
Yes, there is ultra right wing in Serbia. But that is a situation in every country. And I do not agree with harsh Dutch standpoint regarding Serbia EU integration, because with that they are just making Serbian ultra right wing stronger and gaining them more supporters...

By SB | November 15, 2009 1:54 PM