The arrest of wartime Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic is an important step for Serbia and it will have a major influence on its future within Europe, said the European Commission.
That is definitely an important step forward, E.C. spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said when asked about the impact on Serbia's integration processes with Europe.
This development will have a significant influence on the European prospects of Serbia. Full cooperation with The Hague's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yogoslavia (I.C.T.Y.) is one of the important criteriums for progress, he said Monday.
Things will proceed more easily also with regard to the other events of the recent months, primarily the forming of the new Serbian government with a clear European agenda, Altafaj said.
Karadzic, who was held in Belgrade last week, is accused of ordering the deadly siege of Sarajevo and some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II, including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.