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Serbia sought to consign its recent bloody past to history yesterday by becoming the latest former Yugoslav republic to apply for membership of the EU.

The President of the former Yugoslav republic, Boris Tadic, encouraged by closer contacts between Belgrade and Brussels in recent months, flew to Stockholm to present the formal application to Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden’s Prime Minister.

“For the last ten years our main goal has been to bring Serbia into the European Union. Europe, for us, signifies values and tolerance, peace and mutual respect and commitment to lasting democracy,” Mr Tadic said.

The Prime Minister of Sweden, which holds the current EU presidency, struck a note of caution, however, warning of the “long and very demanding” road to membership.

It will take years for Serbia to satisfy the EU conditions for negotiations to begin and the country will have to make key economic, legal and constitutional reforms to qualify.

The toughest hurdle will be Serbian co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, which is still looking to bring war criminals to justice a decade after the collapse of Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslav regime.

While the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was arrested last year, the tribunal is still pressing Serbia to hand over his military commander, General Ratko Mladic. International prosecutors want to charge him with genocide over the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo.

The tribunal is also seeking Goran Hadzic, the former Serb leader in Croatia, who is wanted for war crimes in Croatia.

The EU had previously blocked closer links with Serbia, demanding that the country co-operate fully with the war crimes tribunal. But it recently unfroze an interim trade agreement and last week lifted visa restrictions for Serbian citizens in EU member states.

However, several EU countries, notably the Netherlands, still oppose closer co-operation with Serbia until General Mladic is handed over to The Hague tribunal.

Serbia is the latest in a lengthening list of countries applying to join the EU. Iceland, buffeted by the financial crisis, did so in the summer and expects to open negotiations in the coming months. Given that Iceland already applies about three quarters of European legislation, the only major sticking points in the negotiations are likely to be over fisheries and whaling.

Croatia is the most advanced of the Balkan countries in negotiating EU entry. The talks could be completed by the end of next year, although Zagreb is also under pressure to co-operate more fully with the international criminal tribunal. Barring any unexpected delays, Croatia could become the 28th EU member in 2012.

By contrast, Macedonia’s application has been put on hold because of a long-running dispute with Greece over the country’s name. Although the EU recognised the country as a candidate in 2005, detailed negotiations have yet to begin.

Albania and Montenegro have also submitted membership applications and these are currently being studied by the European Commission, which is expected to recommend next year whether to open official talks.

The chances of Turkey, the remaining EU applicant, moving closer to membership remain slight as long as there is no solution in sight to the Cyprus conflict and Ankara continues to refuse to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and aircraft.