Luxembourg, 13/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Monday the External Relations Council adopted its conclusions on the Balkans: "The Council took note of the presentation today by ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Mrs Carla Del Ponte, and of her report on 9 October 2003 to the UN Security Council. It also noted with deep concern that certain countries of the region were still failing to co-operate sufficiently with the Tribunal. Recalling the pledge made by the countries of the region at the EU-Western Balkans Summit at Thessaloniki in June 2003 to cooperate fully and unequivocally with the ICTY, it called upon them to improve their co-operation in respect of arrest and transfer of indictees still at large, requests for documents, access to archives and availability of witnesses. It reiterated the need to intensify efforts to bring Karadjic, Mladic and Gotovina to the ICTY. It also stressed the importance of strengthening national judicial systems and to improve their capacity to prosecute cases transferred from the ICTY. It supported the efforts by the High Representative/EU Special Representative Ashdown to establish a special chamber within the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the "War Crimes Chamber"). The council reaffirmed that full cooperation by the countries of the Western Balkans with ICTY remained an essential element of the EU's Stabilisation and Association process. Failure to cooperate fully with ICTY would seriously jeopardise further movement towards the EU. The Council recalled that regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations form an essential part of the process of moving towards the EU. In this context and without prejudice to sovereign rights of States deriving from the relevant international law, it noted with regret that the Croatian Parliament decided to declare a protected ecological and fishing zone in the Adriatic Sea without appropriate dialogue and coordination with the other countries concerned. It called on Croatia to urgently pursue a constructive dialogue with its neighbours meant to meet the concerns of all the parties involved.