European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine is "delighted" with the arrest of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and sees it as "symbolic of the end of impunity" her spokesman said Sunday.
She said the arrest in Belgrade early Sunday "of the dictator Milosevic ... clearly shows the willingness of the Yugoslav authorities to consolidate the rule of law and move closer to Europe and the whole of the international community," said the spokesman.
"She sees in this arrest a first step toward Milosevic's necessary appearance before the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague," he said.
FORMER YUGOSLAV PM: MILOSEVIC SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIMSELF
In Paris, former prime minister Milan Panic said on Sunday that Milosevic should have committed suicide rather than hand himself over to Belgrade's forces, the country's former prime minister Milan Panic said on Sunday.
"I thought he had a little more character when he said that he would not surrender. Now we know not only that he's a bad politician, we know that he's a coward," Panic said in an interview with television channel CNN.
"I was always almost certain that he would keep his promise that he would not surrender, that he would probably kill himself.... I thought that would end an era in the right way," Panic said.
Milosevic was arrested early on Sunday after a 24-hour-long standoff between Yugoslav security forces and armed guards loyal to the former president at his Belgrade home.
Panic also called for much-needed aid to start flowing into Yugoslavia following Milosevic's arrest.
The United States had warned Belgrade that unless it started cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia by the end of March, it would block millions of dollars worth of aid.
"Maximum help should be given in economic form," Panic said, adding that to develop, the country needs "not 50 million dollars. It needs more than a billion."
"We need institutions, we need a judicial department. Milosevic's judges are still running the country. We have to remove them," he insisted, saying, "We have no new people to replace them."
He also called for the region to be integrated into the European Union, saying of Yugoslavia: "The country is in Europe. It should be part of the European Union."
"We need an expedited program for inclusion, not only of Serbia, but Croatia, Bosnia, including Kosovo and Montenegro," he added.
Panic was prime minister from 1992 to 1993 under Milosevic – (AFP)
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