Central Europe rallies behind Croatia's bid to begin EU membership talks

The European Union has decided to postpone accession talks with Croatia that were scheduled to begin last Thursday. Croatia needs to cooperate fully with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). Several EU countries, especially Britain, the Netherlands and Germany, have accused Croatia of not trying hard enough to capture the war crimes suspect General Ante Gotovina. But Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia would have liked to see accession talks begin right away.

General Ante Gotovina, photo: CTK

What is the Czech Republic's standpoint and why do Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia say talks should start regardless? Are they undermining the authority of the war crimes tribunal? We spoke to Ivan Busniak, a former Czech ambassador to Zagreb:

"Basically, the position of the Czech government is in line with the position of those led by Austria and it certainly is not a position that undermines the ICTY. Everyone within the European Union fully understands the importance of the ICTY and the necessity of the Croat government to do everything possible to have General Gotovina in The Hague as early as possible.

"On the other hand, what needs to be taken into account is that because of one individual man within the context of otherwise very good cooperation of the Croat government with the ICTY, this should not be taken as a reason to postpone the opening of accession talks. We all have enough instruments and possibilities within the European Union to suspend or slow down the talks with Croatia or put pressure on Croatia, if Gotovina is not brought to The Hague early."

Now, General Gotovina is accused of being responsible for the murder of 100 ethnic Serbs and expulsion of a further 150,000 during an operation ten years ago, to recapture Croatian lands. Some Croatians view him as their hero. The Croatian government says it does not know where General Gotovina is and that it is very likely that he is no longer on Croatian territory. The UN chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte has been sceptical, saying he is within the reach of the Croatian authorities. What do you think, as a former ambassador to Zagreb?

Photo: CTK

"Yes, you are right in saying that there is some information that Gotovina may still be in Croatia or may be on the lose somewhere very close to Croatia, such as in neighbouring Bosnia Herzegovina, for example. Some EU member countries also say that they have intelligence information that there are some people in Croatia, who are helping General Gotovina flee justice and avoid getting captured.

"But, we don't have this intelligence information and we cannot really be sure whether Gotovina is in Croatia or not. That is why in this, a little bit confused, situation we do not see it as a sufficient reason to postpone the talks but since there was no agreement within the EU 25, we take note of the decision and simply hope that Croatia will do everything possible so that in the shortest possible period of time there is going to be a confirmation by the Council of Foreign Ministers that Croatia is fully cooperating with the ICTY.

It's interesting to see that it is the EU member states from this region, which are backing Croatia...

"Well, it would be very difficult to give you an exact answer and I wouldn't like to speculate. As far as the Czech Republic is concerned, it has been known that we consider the western Balkans, in particular, as a region of Europe which is very close to our heart and in which we have long-standing traditional presence - cultural, political, and economic. Particularly in this area, we also have the biggest military contingent that we have abroad - in the KFOR in Kosovo. So, as far as the Czech Republic is concerned, I cannot speak on behalf of the others, we do think we have some knowledge and understanding of the situation there and we are highly interested in the process of rapprochement of this region with the European Union is unhampered."