EU postpones Croatia entry talks

[BlueDevil]

BBC.News wrote:

EU postpones Croatia entry talks

European Union foreign ministers have postponed imminent talks on Croatia's EU entry because of Zagreb's failure to arrest a war crimes suspect.

Ministers want Croatia to co-operate fully with The Hague tribunal by handing over Gen Ante Gotovina.

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht said an EU climbdown on Croatia would have weakened its power to make Serbia surrender key suspects.

No new date has been set for the talks, which would have begun on Thursday.

But ministers said talks could start "as soon as the Council has established that Croatia is co-operating fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia".

Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement, made it clear that Croatian membership was still very much a possibility.

"I want to underline that Croatia's future is in the European family, Croatia is a candidate country, nothing has changed in that regard," he said.

"Croatia has also made plenty of progress, lots of progress, and I hope that the last stumbling block could be cleared soon. For its part, the European Union has today in the council adopted the negotiation framework. "

Gen Gotovina is accused of murdering Serb civilians during an operation to expel Serb forces from the Krajina region of Croatia in 1995.

Before the ministers' meeting, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Croatia's failure to co-operate fully with prosecutors meant Zagreb could not start EU accession talks.

Moment of truth

Only Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia have supported starting talks as planned, arguing that Zagreb has made the necessary economic and political reforms to qualify for membership talks.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader expressed his disappointment at the ministers' decision.

"I cannot but express my dissatisfaction with this conclusion. Croatia deserves negotiations as soon as possible," he told the European Parliament.

Earlier, he insisted it was not in his country's power to deliver Gen Gotovina and said Croatia had fully co-operated with the tribunal.

"According to all our information, [Gen Gotovina] is not in Croatia. This is the only and full truth," he said.

Krajina campaign

The UN's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte had said Croatia must do more to pursue Gen Gotovina.

Ms Del Ponte's spokeswoman said: "There is no change in our assessment of co-operation. The authorities are not demonstrating the will to arrest Gotovina."

The tribunal's chief prosecutor has accused Zagreb of shielding Gen Gotovina.

He is accused of crimes against humanity during a 1995 campaign to recapture land seized by Serb rebels after the break-up of Yugoslavia.

He faces charges of killing 150 Serbs and expelling 150,000 others from the Krajina region.

He is still revered as a hero by some Croats.

[BlueDevil]

Koliko god ne volim vidjet da nas ovako šikaniraju ko zadnje majmune, toliko mi je drago.
Otvoreno sam protiv ulaska RH u EU, barem dok ne dođemo u tu fazu da ne moramo klečat i molit da nas prime. Oni nas žele i trebaju - tako da. Mi njih molimo i damo se j*bat - nema šanse.
A onda u Dnevniku Plus naš vrli Sanader izvali, citiram "...uostalom, Hrvatska je jedna zemlja koja živi po Europskim standardima.". Dobro jel' on normalan? Tko živi po Europskim standardima? Ljudi sa 3000kn plaće? Ili oni sa još manje? Stambeni krediti s kamatom većom od Europske kamate za NENAMJENSKE kredite? A benzin i diesel skoro pa na EU razini - jedino to. Da ne spominjemo opet kvalitetu istih. Da ne spominjemo izvjesne ljude u Vladi koji koriste državne avione za privatne potrebe.
I better not start on this one...

Vaša mišljenja?

[Inovator]

potpisujem! ja sam očekivao da će nam prvo dignuti malo standard, pa onda u EU, a ne ovakvi bokci ulazi u takav savez. Mislim, EU nas zeli zbog mora, sve smo im prodali, jos je more ostalo! A kome ce biti bolje u EU? Onima koji to najvise zele, politicarima. Vecini zemalja koje su usle u EU kao zemlje iz tranzicije je standard pao, privatizacija ih je pojela i sl. A mi smo i sad u K, a kamoli poslije. Uzas.

[Rvs_Gamer]

ako udjemo u EU sve ce privatizirati,pocet ce nam jos da naplacuju more,ovi bogatuni ce sve pokupovati a sta cemo mi kako devil rekao sa 3k place,pa mozemo pusit ***** jer kada dodje euro smo jos vise nasuckali,ako nam autoceste sad privatiziraju (neke su vec privatizirane) mozemo samo ocekivat vece cijene manje place po meni,jer ce ekipa Mesić,Račan itd,toliko udovoljavat Eu da cemo mi jest govna sa poda,neka ostane kako je,bolje cu zivjet izvan Eu,jer oni nas misle samo izmust

[Gruntovčan]

ja to gledam s malo drukčijeg aspekta---sto se mene tiče ,ako je uvjet ulaska u EU izručenje Gotovine nemoramo nikad uć!
nedam svoje ratne heroje i bok.
izdrzat cemo bez EU mi i 20 godina jso ak treba,mozemo si samo poboljsat startnu pozicuju u pregovoriam sa EU ako jso pricekamo.
Meni se osobno nikam ne zuri

[gog]

Bolje da ništa ne pišem, molim da se više ne spominje gotovina....

[Gruntovčan]

zaš?šta ti je sad?