Luxembourg, 26/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - After meeting European and Croat foreign affairs ministers on Tuesday in Luxembourg, Carla del Ponte the prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia declared that, “there is still no change in our evaluation, Croatia is still not cooperating fully with us”. The fugitive Croat general Ante Gotovina, who faces charges by the ICTFY “is within reach of the Croatian authorities”, she affirmed once again. The opening of accession negotiations with Croatia depends on her recommendations. Negotiations were planned for 17 March but were postponed indefinitely while waiting for the Croatian authorities to fully cooperate on the Gotovina case. Carla del Ponte indicated that she had given the European Task Force on Croatia the job of getting details on the networks protecting Gotovina within the state institutions. Del Ponte explained to the press that her great hope was for the situation to evolve by her next report to the Security Council in June because the Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader had “promised me to be much more pro-active”. She said that Sanader himself was probably not receiving any information.
On Tuesday the European Union reaffirmed that opening of negotiations depended on Croatia's cooperation with the ICTFY for arresting Mr Gotovina. At the end of the first Council Association between the EU and Croatia after the entry into force of the stability and association agreement on 1 February, the president of the Council of the EU, Jean Asselborn, declared that the keys for opening negotiations were in the hands of the Croatian authorities. Asselborn explained that the EU was ready to reopen negotiations with Croatia as soon as the Council acknowledges full cooperation with the International Criminal Court. In response the Croatian minister for foreign affairs indicated that as soon as the political decision was taken by the EU, Croatia would be ready to begin negotiations “right away”.
There was a succession of meetings on Tuesday, first of all at the EU-Croatia Association Council then the ad-hoc task force on cooperation between Croatia and the ICTFY, with ministers from the Luxembourg foreign affairs ministries and their counterparts in the next British and Austrian presidencies, as well as Commissioner for enlargement Olli Rehn, Carla del Ponte and the prime minister and foreign affairs minister in Croatia. This working group continued discussions without Ms del Ponte then without the Croatian representatives. The European Council of 22-23 march decided to set up this working group following the decision of the General Affairs Council on 16 March, which decided to postpone the opening of negotiations planned for 17 March, because of the insufficient cooperation between the Court on the Gotovina case. At the end of the working group meeting, Asselborn insisted that the EU would not be setting up a legal body but was awaiting the opinion of the ICTFY, particularly the report by the Security Council on 13 June. He indicated that the Council would be coming back as soon as possible on the issue of cooperation with Croatia and the ICTFY and therefore the opening of negotiations “depending on significant future developments”. Asselborn explained that Croatia had presented an action plan on measures that it was going to take for arresting Gotovina.
At the end of the Association Council, the presidency and Commission welcomed the progress accomplished by Croatian but called for more reforms, particularly for the return of refugees and the economy. Asselborn indicated that, “Croatia is on the right track, with very notable progress in many areas, but this is just the beginning of the process”. He underlined the fact that progress had been achieved in the very important area of refugees and that this had to be continued so that all related issues could be resolved by the end of the year. The Croatian minister for foreign affairs Kolina Grabar-Kitarovic highlighted the efforts made by his country on the economy, administrative capacity and for the return of refugees even if his country was “aware more work needs to be done”.
Although the Association Council with Croatia followed the 44th Association Council with turkey, Jan Asselborn hoped expressed a wish to Croatia that the number of Council meetings was not so high. Turkey is still awaiting the opening of negotiations 41 years after the signing of the association agreement. The next meeting of the EU/Croatia Association Council is in July, indicated the Croatian minister.
The EU and Croatia adopted a joint press statement at the end of the Association Council and two declarations on weapons of mass destruction and terrorism.