Brussels, 20/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is in talks with the Croatian government to seek an alternative to sanctions, the launch process of which began on 18 September over the European Arrest Warrant, with talks on Wednesday evening between the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the prime minister of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, explained a Commission spokeswoman, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, on Friday. She said they would continue to seek possible solutions, but no decision has yet been taken about what will be done after the consultation of EU member states that began on Wednesday morning. Under this ten-day consultation, laid down in Article 39 of Croatia's accession treaty, the Commission can decide to implement “institutional” sanctions in the form of tighter surveillance of Croatian justice, home affairs or financial policies, and suspend EU funding earmarked for helping the country prepare to join the Schengen area.
Hansen said Barroso had asked Commissioner Viviane Reding to continue with her work and find a rapid solution with her Croatian counterpart. Reding is due to meet shortly with Croatian justice minister Orsat Miljenic to this end, possibly next week.
The opposition in Croatia has called for the prime minister and his cabinet to resign over this issue, to enable citizens to fully benefit from membership of the EU rather than simply being the butt of shame and penalties, explained Zeljko Reiner, leader of the political party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). (SP/transl.fl)