BELGRADE (AP) – The European Union is ready to meet key Serbian conditions for the deployment of an EU mission in Kosovo, an EU official said yesterday. Pierre Mirel, the European Commission’s director for the Western Balkans, said that the EU would agree to demands that its 2,000-strong mission be endorsed by the UN Security Council and remain neutral regarding Kosovo’s status. Mirel is in Serbia’s capital to discuss EU-Serb relations. Serbia’s consent is crucial so that EU policemen and judges can work in the Serb-held parts of Kosovo, which is predominantly ethnic Albanian. The UN mission is in the process of downsizing, and diplomats see the proposed EU mission as enforcing the rule of law and filling any security vacuum. It will also supervise local leaders to make certain minority rights are guaranteed. “It is important that an agreement is reached on the EU mission,” Mirel said. He said the EU also agreed that its mission make no reference to a plan by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which called for Kosovo to be granted internationally supervised independence. The plan, which was rejected by the Serbs, called for a EU-led mission similar to the one now under discussion.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Union plans to send Bosnia a “wake-up call” next week as Sarajevo struggles to implement EU-oriented reforms and with nationalism on the rise, the bloc’s French presidency said yesterday. EU defense ministers, meeting in Brussels on Monday, are also expected to maintain the bloc’s peacekeeping force in Bosnia until there is a return to political stability. “There will be a wake-up call sent by the ministers that things are not going well on the political front,” a presidency diplomat said. EU foreign ministers will also evaluate Bosnia’s reform progress on Monday. Bosnia’s hopes of one day joining the EU “are not compatible with provocation and calls of a more or less disguised ethnic nature,” the diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. “This is not what we expect from this country,” she said.

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is demanding prosecutors disclose alleged documents of a deal he says he struck with a top US official to avoid prosecution, a UN war crimes court said yesterday. His application demanded disclosure of all information “concerning the agreement made with Radovan Karadzic on or about July 18-19, 1996, by Richard Holbrooke,” the tribunal said. “The disclosure... may lead to the dismissal of all charges against him,” read the application published by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). “The prosecution cannot be allowed to sweep the agreement with Richard Holbrooke under the rug,” it said. Karadzic maintains that Holbrooke, the US peace negotiator in Bosnia, had promised he would shield Karadzic from the tribunal in return from disappearing from the public eye. Holbrooke has insisted that no such deal existed.

Turkey said yesterday a British television documentary about its orphanages using Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, in an undercover role could harm the welfare of the children involved. “The way in which the disguised Duchess of York was used to shoot scenes with a hidden camera... was done without taking into consideration the adverse effects of such unprepared visits on the intellectual and emotional development of these children,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said. He made the comments about the ITV documentary, the first part of which aired this week, at a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, where Turkey’s bid to join the European Union was relegated to a minor role. Babacan said Turkey had launched an inquiry into the allegations made in the documentary and anyone responsible for misconduct would be charged. (Reuters)

A prosecutor in Serbia says the death of a nationalist protester resulted from injuries sustained in clashes with police at a rally supporting genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic. State prosecutor spokesman Tomo Zoric says those responsible will be held accountable. Dozens of people were injured in the July protest in Belgrade against the arrest of Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader. Ranko Panic, 41, suffered abdominal injuries. He died two weeks later. The extremist Serbian Radical Party demanded yesterday that Interior Minister Ivica Dacic resign over Panic’s death. (AP)