According to Reuters, the Luxembourg presidency of the EU will inform a meeting of "the bloc's foreign ministers on Wednesday that by failing to capture or hand over war crimes indictee General Ante Gotovina, Croatia had not met EU conditions for starting negotiations."
"It will be a 'no' tomorrow, but the question is how it will be formulated," one EU diplomat was quoted as saying after ambassadors of the 25-nation Union met to prepare the decision.
France Presse reported that the EU would on Wednesday delay the start of talks unless Gen. Gotovina is extradited to the Hague-based UN tribunal at the last moment.
Slovenia's Ambassador to the EU, Ciril Stokelj, told Slovene news agency STA that tomorrow the EU members' foreign ministers would first present positions of their countries and after that the presidency would present its draft conclusions.
Stokelj said that it would be pointed out in the conclusions that it was necessary for Croatia to cooperate with the Hague tribunal and that the negotiations could start as soon as that requirement was met.
EU foreign ministers were expected to adopt a framework for negotiations with Croatia on Wednesday. The Union would issue a message that the European prospects of Croatia and its neighbours were not in question, France Presse reported.
"The dominant mood is not to set a new date for Croatia but to leave the issue open ended, so that whenever there is an important event, it can be revisited," an EU Ambassador was quoted by Reuters as saying. He added that "that is in Croatia's interest too."