Croatia accord set back

Date: 02/11/1995

CROATIA may be further than ever from the trade and cooperation accord it began negotiating with the EU in June.

Leader Franjo Tudjman's threats of war over Eastern Slavonia, along with unanswered questions about the future of Serb refugees in Croatia, have set the republic back in its dealings with EU officials, who now feel they may not be able to place Zagreb in a more privileged position than its neighbours.

Between the lines of the joint declaration issued by EU foreign ministers this week, which speaks of future relations with the region, lie hints that Croatia may not be asked to walk down the traditional, bilateral path of cooperation and then association accords.

“The European Union will... provide long-term assistance with the objectives of supporting economic development, reinforcement of civil society, reconciliation and regional economic cooperation,” the statement says.

“In the perspective of peace, the European Union is developing its long-term policy towards the region,” it continues.

A senior Commission official said the EU could scrap the intended cooperation accord with Zagreb in favour of a trading and political partnership that would exclude eventual EU membership and could be applied to other former Yugoslav republics. “We could renounce cooperation with Croatia in order to start a different type,” he said.

In its dealings with Central and Eastern European states, the EU usually starts out with a trade and cooperation accord and then moves, if the candidate is considered viable, to a more political association or 'Europe' accord. Once a country attains a Europe accord, it may aspire to EU membership.

The European Commission began negotiations with Zagreb in June on the cooperation accord. But the talks were suspended on 4 August after Zagreb's offensive in Krajina which sent 200,000 Serbs fleeing ahead of the Croatian army.

Now, the Commission says, the risk of recurring war in the region makes returning to the negotiating table impossible.

“Cooperation accord talks will continue to be suspended, but I don't know if that will impress the Croatians,” said one Commission official, explaining that the accord, even if it were achieved, bears no mention of a future association accord nor of eventual EU membership.

Of the former Yugoslav states, only Slovenia has been offered the prospect of EU membership. Albania has embarked on trade and cooperation accord talks, but may not win a seat on the same train as Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, all of which are heading towards full integration into the Union.

Part of Croatia's relegation may be due to multiplying reports of human rights abuses. European politicians have been worried but taciturn in their criticism, with EU foreign ministers saying almost nothing on the subject when they met on 2 October. The reason for the soft response, one EU official said, was that ministers did not want to “reactivate the hate or throw oil on the fire”.

But in their 30 October statement, ministers were more direct, saying: “The granting of reconstruction assistance to Croatia should be linked to the creation of real return options by the Croat government for the Serbs ...and to strict respect for human and minority rights.”