Only a few months back, it seemed inconceivable to think that Serbia would be arresting and handing over men suspected to be war criminals.

Several international news agencies and journalists have commented on the deep rooted web of organised crime that covered the tracks of men that have gone into hiding. Reprisals for divulging information were grim.

Yet Serbian President Boris Tadic, on winning the general election by a slim margin, immediately approached the European Union and told the Brussels-based machinery that his government would do anything possible to be looked on favourably for membership.

We have no doubt that the arrest of “faith healer” Radovan Karadzic was pushed for by the European Union. Also, we have no doubt that his arrest will not be the first – in a not so common show of standing firm, the EU is insisting on more arrests of those who are alleged to have committed atrocities during the Bosnian-Serb conflict in the 1990s. Quite how these men have slipped through Serbia’s net (or were allowed to) and lived normal lives is perhaps incomprehensible to Europeans, even us quirky Maltese. But the swiftness of the arrest and the rumblings of more to come show that the Serbian Government is ready to go the mile on this matter. President Tadic is going to have it mighty rough for weeks, months and even perhaps years to come. The Serbians are known for their patriotic feelings, but there is a good contingent of the population who are ultra nationalists. Of course here we must give an accurate definition of what nationalism is, and not even try to compare them with Malta’s Nationalist Party.

In essence, nationalism is usually defined in terms of ethnicity or culture, where followers of the doctrine believe they have the right to constitute an independent or autonomous political community based on a shared history and common destiny. Nationalist efforts such as those propagated by fascist movements in the 20th century, held the nationalist concept that nationality is the most important aspect of one’s identity, while some of them have attempted to define the nation in terms of race or genetics. But, one must not get confused. Karadzic was declared himself de-facto leader of Serbian Bosnia Herzegovina with support from Serbian President Milosevic.

Many of these nationalistic feelings still hold true amongst Serbians and especially Bosnian Serbs. One only has to look at the protests against the declaration of Kosovar independence and the arrests of former leaders Slobodan Milosevic (late) and now of course Karadzic (in the Serbian part of Bosnia Herzegovina) to see it.

The European Union is based on inclusion, cultural exchange, multiculturalism and solidarity. One might not always see the traits, but that is what the bloc is built on (one must never forget though, that its roots are in the free trade of coal). The Serbian situation instantly puts it at loggerheads with the EU. Many will argue that the placement of Tadic’s government into the seat of office by the general public shows that the majority of the country is pro-European. We are not talking here of a situation of petty political gain (as the Europe agenda was used by the MLP). In other words, we are not talking political divisions – we are talking about people protesting against the arrest of a man who murdered (or ordered the killing of) hundreds and possibly thousands of people including men, women and children. In other words, they condone his actions.

We truly hope the flames of nationalism are not stoked up in Serbia by the protests in Bosnia and that it (Serbia) becomes a fully integrated member of the European Union. But those who think that it can be done in the short term are wrong. This is an issue that will take a long time to die down. Now that it has accepted Serbia’s wish to move towards accession – Europe owes it to Tadic to throw all its weight behind him.