Brussels, 08/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, has welcomed the arrest, in the Canary Isles on Thursday, of the Croatian general Ante Gotovina, who had been wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 2001. "The arrest of Ante Gotovina is good news for reconciliation in the western Balkans region", and also for the work of the ICTY, said Mr Rehn. The Commissioner launched an appeal to the other countries of the region, particularly Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina to step up their efforts and cooperation with the ICTY in order to arrest other fugitives, especially Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. According to Mr Rehn, Gotovina's arrest came about due to close cooperation between the Spanish and Croatian authorities, "which proves that the EU's decision of 3 October to open accession negotiations with Croatia was entirely justified". Gotovina's arrest also means that a "major obstacle to accession negotiations with Croatia has been removed", and that "we can now focus all our attention on negotiations, and Croatia can focus its on reforms". The High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, has also welcomed the arrest.