The Commission has no comment on the exchange of opinions between the two governments and that is all I can say for now, EC spokesman Piero Petrucci said.
History does not fall within the jurisdiction of the European Commission. We have been informed about the exchange of opinions. Relations between Italy and Croatia are very good and friendly in general and we hope that they will also apply in discussions on those events, which are painful for both sides, Petrucci said when asked to say if the latest deterioration of relations would have an impact on Croatia's integration with the EU.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano last Saturday decorated the last Italian chief of police in the central Croatian Adriatic city of Zadar during the fascist rule, who was later killed by the Partisans. Napolitano conferred the decoration on the occasion of the remembrance day for victims of the foibe, karst pits into which, according to Italian media, many innocents were thrown towards the end of World War II by Tito's Partisans.
Napolitano said the drama of the foibe was "the act of barbarism of the century" and the result of "the Slavic bloodthirsty hatred" and annexationist aspirations.
President Stjepan Mesic said on Monday he was "unpleasantly surprised" at the "content and tone" of Napolitano's statements.
"These claims, in which one cannot but see elements of open racism, historical revisionism and political revenge-seeking, are definitely difficult to put side by side with the declared wish for the promotion of bilateral relations," Mesic's office said in a statement.
Italian media reported on Tuesday that Prime Minister Romano Prodi, currently on a visit to Italy, contacted his Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader and expressed his shock at Mesic's claims about Italy's revenge-seeking which he described as absolutely unjustified.