12/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - Croatia has launched accession negotiations with the European Union after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former-Yugoslavia in The Hague said the Croatian government's efforts to recapture the fugitive war crime General Ante Gotovina were satisfactory. US deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burn, said Croatia would not be allowed to join NATO until Ante Gotovina has been arrested and handed over to the court in The Hague. Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Nicholas Burn said the US respected the EU's decision but firmly believed NATO had to keep this condition for Croatia joining NATO. Burns warned Belgrade that the United States would oppose Serbia joining NATO's Partnership for Peace cooperation programme in any form until the former chief of Serb military forces in Bosnia, Ratko Mladic, has been arrested. Mladic is also wanted on war crimes charges at the ICTFY in The Hague.