Croatia: Failure to start EU accession talks next week would not be a disaster for Croatia, its president told Dan McLaughlin in Zagreb
The postponement of EU accession talks would be a slight setback rather than a disaster, Croatian president Stipe Mesic claims, amid withering criticism of his country's failure to find its most wanted war crimes suspect.
Croatia's hopes of starting negotiations on March 17th were dented by a letter to the EU this week from Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor at The Hague's UN war crimes tribunal, which accused Zagreb of doing far too little to find Gen Ante Gotovina.
"I wouldn't be obsessed with the date of March 17th," Mr Mesic said. "Whether talks will start on March 17th or some other date is a technical matter," he added, saying the EU had offered an "open door" to Croatia to join when ready.
He acknowledged, however, that his chances of ushering Croatia into the EU in 2007, alongside Romania and Bulgaria, were fast diminishing.
"Some time between 2007 and 2009 is the time period when we wish to fulfil our goals," he said at the sprawling presidential palace in the suburbs of Zagreb.
Foreign ministers of EU states are due to meet today to discuss Croatia's membership bid, with a decision on whether to start talks expected on March 16th. They have pledged to pay particular attention to Ms del Ponte's report on the hunt for Gen Gotovina, whom Croatian officials insist is not in the country or within their reach.
"We assert that Croatia is co-operating fully with (the tribunal), not because we are exposed to international pressure but for our own sake," Mr Mesic insisted.
"There is one person who is a fugitive, and we do not think that this should be an obstacle to the opening of negotiations."
Gen Gotovina has been on the run since being indicted in 2001 for allegedly masterminding the killing of about 150 Serbs and the expulsion of 150,000 others during Croatia's 1995 offensive.
Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU presidency, kept the door ajar yesterday, saying he could imagine a situation "in which Croatia can prove by March 16th that it is co-operating 100 per cent without, perhaps, it being possible to transfer Gotovina to The Hague."
But Mr Mesic seemed braced for disappointment, and spoke of the mistrust with which Croatia was regarded under his predecessor, Franjo Tudjman, who after leading Croatia's war of independence, presided over a regime that was unwilling to surrender war crimes suspects.
"There was selective application of the law and, within the system, certain circles that protected fugitives sought by the tribunal," he acknowledged.
"But this period is definitely over. No one within the system in Croatia today would protect those who do not follow Croatian law, and no one would hamper Croatia in its attempts to fully comply with its international commitments.
"Five generals from Croatia already went to The Hague. So the logical question can be raised: why would Croatia protect Gotovina? There is not a single reason for that."
Nevertheless, Mr Mesic, who won re-election this year to a second five-year term in office, could offer no clues on where the former French Foreign legionnaire may be hiding.
Gen Gotovina is still widely seen as a war hero here, however, and the spat with Brussels over his whereabouts has dampened Croats' enthusiasm to join the EU.
Mr Mesic was adamant that only more international co-operation could net the elusive general.