Sueddeutsche Zeitung notes in its leader that the decision does not concern only the EU and Croatia but the entire international community, as well as the meaning of fairness. "The signal is clear: a country which suppresses its past, a country with authoritarian structures and a society which proclaims war criminals heroes does not belong to Europe, because the EU is not only a common market, but an alliance bonded by common values." The author of the commentary also notes that Croats will soon overcome the current feeling of anger and disappointment and that it will help them get rid of the old burdens in the long run.
Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted the German representative at the EU ministerial meeting, Hans Martin Bury, as saying that the door to Europe would be wide open to Croatia the moment it handed over Gotovina or proved that it was objectively unable to do it.
Frankfurter Rundschau believes that the warning from Brussels has been productive. The author of an article headlined "A warning shot" says that it would be unrealistic to expect Zagreb to make major progress regarding Gotovina. At the same time, it stressed that Europe's door is in no way closed to Croatia.
A commentary in the leftist Tageszeitung daily from Berlin reads that such decisions should serve to support the UN war crimes tribunal despite the fact that it sometimes transpires that the tribunal is equating the victim with the aggressor. However, despite such positions, the policy of the UN tribunal has greatly contributed to the democratisation of former Yugoslav republics, the author of the article says. The decision to postpone the talks should in no way encourage those forces which would like to see all countries in the region join the EU at the same time. Countries in the region are developing at different speeds and their joint accession would only bring new problems, reads the article.