EU makes Croatia suffer for allowing war criminal to flee

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 10/03/05

The EU looks set to postpone next week the start of membership talks with Croatia, accused of not doing its best to apprehend indicted war criminal General Ante Gotovina.

Following the damning opinion of Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte that Zagreb is not committed to catch Gotovina, Croatia's hopes of opening membership talks on 17 March appear to be slipping fast.

"The chances are not improving for starting accession negotiations on 17 March," said one senior Luxembourg government official, "but we could still have a surprise - the Croat authorities know that we are serious about this".

Gotovina is wanted for his role in the murder of Serb civilians in 1995, but is seen by some at home as a national hero, one reason the government is accused of not doing all it can to capture him.

In a letter to EU leaders dated 4 March, del Ponte wrote: "Despite all public and private assurances from Zagreb, Ante Gotovina remains within reach of the Croatian authorities, and until such time as he is brought to The Hague, it cannot be said that Croatia is fully co-operating with the International Tribunal".

EU ambassadors are expected to discuss today (10 March) what steps to take in light of del Ponte's assessment, which is described by many as an "essential element" in the decision to open negotiations or not.

With a unanimous decision necessary to open talks, member states are struggling to forge a common position before foreign ministers gather on 16 March.

According to diplomatic sources, proposals under consideration include setting a new deadline for Croatia to co-operate with the tribunal, or agreeing to start talks when Croatia fully complies, without giving a date.

Sources say a new deadline could be set for October, coinciding with the expected decision to open negotiations with Turkey.

But Austria, Hungary and Slovakia continue to press for talks to be opened as soon as possible. "We will continue to support Croatia opening negotiations on 17 March," said a Slovak spokesperson, "it has to be seen from both sides taking into account the reforms that Croatia has made".

In a letter sent to EU governments this week, the Croatian leaders said that any "fallback or postponement in the case of Croatia might have undesired reflections on the domestic political scene and certainly negative, if not devastating regional effects".

But without Gotovina being delivered to the tribunal, concerns that the EU's support for international law may be undermined by a decision to start talks have prompted the UK, Netherlands and Nordic countries to demand that pressure on Croatia be kept up.

There is also concern that a decision to open talks would send the wrong message to other Balkan countries which want to join the EU and have failed to apprehend individuals. "We have to send a message to the other countries in the Balkans that these conditions are absolute," said one diplomat.

Croatian leaders have said they are now doing all they can to catch Gotovina, freezing the assets of those who support him, and insist he is no longer in Croatia. "It is absolutely certain that he is not in Croatia," President Stjepan Mesic' said last week.

But del Ponte described these measures as "late" and "of marginal value". She also accused Zagreb of launching intelligence operations on her staff to thwart their efforts as recently as March 2004.

The EU looked set to postpone the start of membership talks with Croatia, originally scheduled for 17 March 2005, accusing the country of not doing its best to apprehend indicted war criminal General Ante Gotovina.

Following the damning opinion of Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, that Zagreb is not committed to catch Gotovina, Croatia's hopes of opening membership talks appeared to be slipping fast.

United Nations: ICTY http://www.un.org/icty/

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