BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Combined reports) - Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt joined France and Austria yesterday in calling for a referendum to decide whether Turkey should be able to join the European Union once it meets the membership criteria. «I am for a referendum on all questions,» Verhofstadt was quoted as telling the daily Le Soir when asked whether there should be a popular vote on Turkish membership. Meantime, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday he could still veto the start of EU accession talks with Turkey if Ankara failed to extend a protocol offering tacit recognition to the island by Oct. 3. «I warned my (EU) counterparts that if Turkey does not meet its commitments, we reserve the right to block the start of accession negotiations,» Papadopoulos told the Greek daily Imerisia in an interview. (AP, Reuters)

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's designated Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu, trying to find allies to form a centrist government after inconclusive elections, secured vital backing yesterday from the small Humanist Party (PUR). The pro-business PUR, which ran on the same ticket as the ex-communist Social Democrat Party (PSD) in the Nov. 28 polls, was the last party to switch sides in the struggle to get a parliamentary majority and bring stability to the Balkan state. «We made this decision in order to help Romania's stability and EU integration efforts,» said PUR President Dan Voiculescu after a meeting with Tariceanu.

Belgrade has asked Greece to explain why the extradition of a key suspect in last year's assassination of Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has been delayed, a newspaper reported. Dejan Milenkovic, a Serb crime figure known as «Bugsy,» was arrested in the Greek port town of Thessaloniki earlier this year following more than a year on the run. A Greek court approved Milenkovic's extradition to Serbia-Montenegro in August and another rejected his appeals to the ruling. However, Greece's Justice Ministry has yet to approve the extradition, Belgrade's Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic was quoted as telling the Politika newspaper. (AP)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia from January 11 to 13, his press office announced yesterday. (AFP)

Police arrested a Bosnian Serb yesterday who is wanted by a local authorities for war crimes, police said. Miroslav Vjestica, 57, was arrested in the Bosnian-Serb stronghold of Banja Luka, on the orders of a court in the western town of Bihac, which is in the part of the country controlled by the Bosnia-Croat federation. Vjestica stands accused of war crimes against civilians and his indictment was approved by the prosecutor's office of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague. (AP)