Brussels, 02/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Last Tuesday and Wednesday, Croatian President Stipe Mesic spoke in his country's defense to the European institutions and NATO, gathered in Brussels. The Croatian government has been ordered to arrest and extradite General Ante Gotovina, who has been summoned to appear by the penal Court charged with the case of ex-Yugoslavia, if it wishes to enter negotiations regarding Croatia's entry into the European Union on March 17th. The Croatian President guaranteed that “if he detained any information” revealing that General Gotovina was in Croatia, he would “have him arrested and extradited to The Hague”.
President Mesic, who spoke after meeting with Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Secretary General of NATO, announced that he had signed a very long letter detailing “all the actions undertaken” to locate and arrest General Gotovina. He declared that, after being co-signed by the President of Parliament and the Prime Minister, this letter will be sent to all EU and NATO Member States and to the European institutions. The Croatian President pleaded in favor of the collaboration between institutions and other countries, stressing that “if Gotovina is in Paraguay, it is obvious that we cannot extradite him”.
“I invited President Mesic to undertake all that is in his capacity to solve the Gotovina issue. It is extremely important that this issue be solved”, declared Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, after meeting with the Croatian President. “We hope that this issue will be solved so that negotiations can be entered according to schedule, on March 17th”, he added.
The Secretary General of NATO mentioned similar expectations, stressing that if collaboration with the penal Court for ex-Yugoslavia is “very important” in the eyes of the European Union, NATO - “of which 19 member states are also members of the EU” - “also ruled in favor of this stance”. “In spite of our fruitful collaboration, we must complete the final stage”, he added.
The Croatian President was also due to meet with Javier Solana, High representative of the EU for the CFSP, on Wednesday evening.