Brussels, 11/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU (Coreper) failed to reach agreement on Thursday on the opening of accession negotiations with Croatia on the planned date of 17 March. Unsurprisingly, it is Zagreb's lack of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) which is at the root of the problem. However, Coreper will meet again next Tuesday to assess various possible compromises, ahead of the meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU on 16 March, at which a unanimous decision will be taken on whether to open negotiations.
“The vast majority of the delegations [within Coreper] were against opening negotiations on 17 March if cooperation [with ICTY] remains at its current level”, a diplomat told EUROPE. Although the Member States' positions differ slightly- some are calling for General Ante Gotovina's being sent to The Hague to be a condition of opening accession negotiations- all agree that Zagreb is not fulfilling the conditions required for negotiations to start, he added. However, and under the guidance of several other Member States which are in favour of the immediate opening of negotiations (including Hungary, Austria and Slovenia), the EU is seeking a compromise between opening negotiations on the planned date, which is looking less and less likely, and that of postponing them to an indefinite date. On 16 March, the foreign ministers of the EU could put forward a new date for the negotiations to begin. They could also adopt the framework agreement defining the modalities for these negotiations, which was presented by the European Commission end January (EUROPE of 1 February, p.5). Adopting this text would not be a guarantee for negotiations to open, but it would send out a positive signal to Zagreb of the EU's goodwill not to question Croatia's process of integration. It would also allow the accession negotiations to start very quickly once the EU feels that Zagreb has finally fulfilled all the conditions required.