Speaking to the press as he arrived to attend a meeting of EU foreign ministers expected to decide whether or not to open the negotiations, Straw said that Great Britain, like other EU members, wanted Croatia to start the talks.
He added, however, that the assessment was that they could not be opened on Thursday because the key condition, full cooperation with the UN court, had not been met.
The discussion on Croatia was scheduled for this morning but was rescheduled for the afternoon.
Asked if a new date would be set, Straw said this would be considered and that it might be convenient to open negotiations sometime in July, after chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte submitted a report to the UN Security Council.
Del Ponte yesterday handed a new letter to the EU chair, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, expressing regret that additional information provided by the Croatian authorities did not change her assessment of Croatia's cooperation with the Hague tribunal.
In the letter, she said the reports submitted by the Croatian authorities in the relevant period indicated that efforts to track down runaway General Ante Gotovina had been intensified. The doubled last-minute efforts clearly showed that a lot of time had been lost in the hope that Gotovina would turn himself in. The reports did not even suggest where the accused might be hiding, the letter said.
Further in the letter, a copy of which Hina obtained in Brussels, del Ponte said the efforts were not well-coordinated or focused and did not assure her that Croatia had done its utmost to locate the fugitive.
The letter added that last week, some identified and well-known people close to Gotovina once again approached a senior government official in an attempt to mediate with the government and herself about referring the case to a national court. The chief prosecutor said that once again relevant officials had not been informed on time so that adequate measures could be taken.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country, along with Great Britain, insists the most on handing over Gotovina in order to open the entry negotiations, said it was difficult to say what today's decision would be because Gotovina might be handed over to the Hague tribunal today, which would change the situation. He added, however, that as things stood at the moment, he assumed the decision would be negative.
Bot said the foreign ministers needed a clear signal that the Croatian government was cooperating and del Ponte to confirm this. He added that at the moment, the ministers considered the cooperation to be incomplete and that they wanted to send a clear message to the entire region that a country must meet certain terms if it wanted to join the EU.
Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel reiterated his country was in favour of launching the negotiations as scheduled, but said the chances were relatively slim.
For the negotiations to be launched, the decision must be unanimous.
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said she would vote for launching the negotiations. She added the progress Croatia had made during the whole reform process and the considerable progress achieved in cooperation with the Hague tribunal must be taken into consideration.
Asselborn said today was an important day for Croatia and that Luxembourg's presidency of the Union would do all it could by the end of its term in late June to ensure that the Union's doors remained open to Croatia regardless of today's conclusions.