European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said Thursday in Vienna that Serbia removed an important obstacle by extraditing Hague indictee Ratko Mladic, but now needed to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria.

Serbia needs to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria, the same as any country on the path to the EU, before the European Commission gives its recommendation to grant candidate status and start accession talks, Fuele told reporters after a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.

We have just started to prepare the opinion on Serbia, he said, adding that the Commission's opinion will be based on the fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria.

He added the opinion would include the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, but did not specify in what way.

Fuele and Spindelegger welcomed the conclusion of talks with Croatia, with the Austrian FM saying it would be a good signal for other countries in the Western Balkans.