The deadline for war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic to be handed over by Belgrade has been pushed back yet again by Brussels.

The EU had officially said that if the former Bosnian Serb commander was not captured by the end of April the next round of talks on Serbia joining the bloc would be suspended.

But Mladic is still on the run, with the Serbs now given just a few more days.

Enlargement Commissioner Ollie Rehn, who met the Serb Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic on Friday, says he is now expecting an update from the International Tribunal in The Hague on May 3.

It is thought the EU is softening its stance because it fears forcing the Mladic case could fuel the rise of hardline ultra-nationalists in Serbia.

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