EU entry talks with Croatia could start in April

Following a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers on Monday (13 December), Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot told a news conference that negotiations could open with Croatia as early as April, provided Croatia cooperates fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)... Croatia has promised to do its utmost to arrest former Croatian army General, Ante Gotovina and hand him to the Tribunal in the Hague. Mr Gotovina is accused of ordering the massacre of Croatian Serbs in 1995. The pressure on Croatia to find and arrest Mr Gotovina has however provoked some negative feeling towards the European Union, as many Croatians perceive him as a hero rather than a war criminal... In general support for EU membership has fallen dramatically in Croatia over the past year.

They won't get in until they're in compliance. It's much more worth it to them from an economic perspective, but at least under Yugoslavia the ethnic groups remained distinctive. Y'know, for those who like that. :') Otherwise, it wasn't too good. And the ethnic distinctions are what tore the place apart. Serbia could come as close to qualifying as Croatia does, but Serbia is still fuming about the Kosovo war, and I doubt the Serbs want to become part of Europe. Particularly if the Turks are let in. If Turkey is rejected, my guess is that Serbia will make a sudden about-face and petition to join the EU.

Croatia claims EU demands are impossible
by Elitsa Vucheva
Feb 28 2005
Croatia's recently appointed foreign minister, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, has said the EU's demand that the Croatian government arrest a war crimes suspect before the country begins EU talks, is impossible, the International Herald Tribune reports... The Croatian government claims that the fugitive General Ante Gotovina is not in the country, and that evidence that he was there has never been found by the United Nations tribunal in The Hague... Ms Grabar-Kitarovic warned that if the EU refused to open negotiations in March, as planned, "it would give the hard-liners a boost, but it would happen not only in Croatia, but in the neighbourhood as well. It would really encourage the hardliners in all these countries to point out, 'Look what's happening to Croatia, whatever you do, it is still not good enough'", the minister was reported as saying. In the past two years, public support for joining the EU has fallen from 78 to 50 percent in Croatia, the IHT says.

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