Croatia assumes a tougher stance towards Serbia

On 8th April 2016 Croatia blocked the process of considering an opening another chapter in the accession negotiations between Serbia and the EU. The Croatian government did not present its position and caused this issue to be removed from the agenda of the EU Working Group, benefiting from the fact that decisions about the opening of a chapter require the unanimity of all EU member states. Consequently, this question was not debated at all during that session. From a statement by the Croatian foreign minister, Miro Kovac, it may be inferred that Croatia took this action in order to force Serbia to change its policies in three areas: respect for the rights of national minorities (e.g. guaranteed seats for representatives of minorities at the communal, regional and national levels), the lifting of regulations which enable the Serbian judicial system to prosecute war crimes also committed in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (and thus to prosecute Croatian citizens), and to improve in its co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

ESO: Background information: Tensions grow over Serbian accession talks http://www.europeansources.info/record/tensions-grow-over-serbian-accession-talks/

Blog: LSE EuroppBlog, 17.05.16: Croatia’s blocking of Serbia’s EU integration: Another case of bilateral conditionality in the Balkans http://bit.ly/1TViHQI

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