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EU gives Serbia deadline on Mladic

• Spain arrests Serb murder suspect

• Serbia faces genocide charge

• U.N. quashes Mladic capture rumors

• Karadzic: The U.N.'s most wanted

• U.N. office: Karadzic in Belgrade

• U.N.'s indictment against Karadzic and Mladic

RESOURCES

(CNN) -- The European Union has told Serbia it has until the end of March to hand over Ratko Mladic, the leader of the Bosnian Serb army sought on war crimes charges.

If Serbia does not turn over Mladic, said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, the EU will "put negotiations on hold" regarding Serbia's prospective membership in the EU.

The next set of talks on EU expansion is set for April 4-5.

"Serbia should cooperate fully and without delay in the handing over of Ratko Mladic and other indictees. The European Union is clear on that," Rehn said on Monday.

He said Serbia should fully cooperate with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague without delay.

Serbian cooperation over the past year has deteriorated, he said, although "there has been a recent recovery, this has stopped short of full cooperation."

Mladic is charged with the July 1995 massacre at Srebrenica of 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

While Mladic is regarded internationally as a pariah, in Serbia many regard him as a hero. Last Friday, an estimated 10,000 people turned out in Belgrade for a demonstration in Mladic's support.

The War Crimes Tribunal is still awaiting his capture, along with that of former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic.

Both are charged with being the planners behind the 1995 killings.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the EU had to get tough with Belgrade, just as it did with Croatia last year, to hand over indicted war criminals.

"The message has to be unless these countries like Serbia cooperate with the criminal tribunal in The Hague, and hand over indicted war criminals, they cannot expect the full cooperation from the European Union in return," said Straw.

Last week media reported authorities were closing in on Mladic, but he remains at large.

Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia under protection of hard-liners in the Serb military and police -- loyalists of former president Slobodan Milosevic, ousted in 2000 by a reformist coalition.

Karadzic is reported to be hiding and moving between Bosnia, Serbia and even his native Montenegro.

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