Postponed, but Croatia talks still on if Gotovina is found

By Andrew Beatty and Dana Spinant

Date: 17/03/05

Accession talks with Croatia could still be opened before the summer, if the government in Zagreb helps track down the fugitive general Ante Gotovina, the Luxembourg deputy foreign minister has said.

The EU foreign ministers decided on Wednesday (16 March) to delay opening membership talks with Croatia because of fears that Zagreb is not fully co-operating with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.

Nicolas Schmit said that negotiations could still be opened before the end of the Luxembourg presidency, provided that Croatia helped to locate Gotovina.

"Catching Gotovina would clearly facilitate things, as the conditions for starting accession talks would be fully fulfilled and talks could start straight ahead. But handing over Gotovina is not a condition, because it would amount to obliging the Croats to do something we don't know it is within their power to do," Schmit said. "They must, however, help locate Gotovina."

The foreign ministers decided to return to the issue when Croatia is judged to have fully co-operated with the tribunal, at an undefined date.

Despite support from Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta and neighbouring Slovenia, Croatia's backers failed to get the unanimous decision necessary to begin negotiations today (17 March), as scheduled.

Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK opposed the opening of talks on the grounds that Croatia has failed to do all it can to determine the whereabouts of Gotovina.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who was in Brussels in a last-minute lobbying bid, told members of the European Parliament that his government is doing all it can to track down Gotovina.

"I cannot but express my dissatisfaction with this conclusion," he said.

But Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Wednesday contested the ministers' decision not to open negotiations with Croatia. MEPs are proposing that a committee be set up to monitor whether or not Croatia is co-operating with The Hague tribunal but that, in the meantime, negotiations should start. Should this committee find that Croatia is indeed not fully co-operating, then negotiations should be halted.

Croatia's supporters now appear to be upping the diplomatic stakes, threatening to tie Croatia's membership bid to that of Turkey's. This is likely to put pressure on the UK, which holds a tough line on co-operation with the tribunal and is a keen supporter of Turkish membership.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that "there is no linkage whatever" between Turkey and Croatia but added that Gotovina, who is wanted for his role in the murder of at least 150 Serb civilians, may not have to appear in The Hague for EU demands to be met.

But if Gotovina is not delivered in the coming weeks, eyes are likely to turn to a report to the United Nations Security Council in June from the tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte.

A letter from del Ponte to EU leaders earlier this month highlighting the Croatian government's obstruction of her staff was instrumental in Wednesday's decision.

According to Nicolas Schmit, Deputy Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, accession talks with Croatia could still be opened before the summer 2005, if the government in Zagreb helped track down the fugitive general Ante Gotovina. The EU Foreign Ministers had decided on 16 March 2005 to delay opening membership talks with Croatia because of fears that Zagreb was not fully co-operating with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.