Serbia formally applied for European Union membership on Tuesday, taking a major step toward accession in a process that could still last for years before Belgrade becomes a full-fledged member of the bloc.
President Boris Tadic submitted the application to Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, a decade after the end of the Balkans wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia and kept it away from mainstream Europe.
Serbia's path to EU membership has been stalled because of its failure to arrest ex-Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who is sought for genocide by the UN war crimes tribunal.
Despite recent progress, the ratification of the EU''s pre-membership Stabilisation and Association Agreement remains on hold because the Netherlands wants to see Mladic first extradited to the Hague tribunal.
Of the former Yugoslav republics, only the westernmost Slovenia joined the EU in 2004. Croatia, which became a member of NATO this year, hopes to conclude its EU entry talks in 2010 and join the bloc in 2012.
Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro have already applied for membership but have yet to start talks.
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