The year 2009 is a reasonable yet very demanding goal. To meet that deadline, Croatia should start accession talks this year and make every step in the process without any major stumbles, said the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, the EU chair in the first half of this year.
According to Asselborn, the Council of Ministers on March 16 showed good will by adopting a negotiating framework for Croatia, thus delivering on its part of the deal.
Croatia now holds the key to opening the talks. Any substantial step or measure taken by the Croatian government in the next few weeks will bring us closer to the launching of the accession talks, Asselborn stressed.
The talks may start in a few weeks or months, but there is little sense in talking about a new date before we see the Croatian government make further concrete progress in meeting conditions for the start of the talks, he added.
Asselborn believes that the many decisions made by the Croatian government in the past few weeks, including the establishment of a special body to trace Gotovina and the freezing of his assets, go in the right direction. It is important that the Croatian authorities demonstrate that they have strong control over their intelligence and police efforts and that there are no obstacles to those efforts within the system, Asselborn said.
The President of the Council of Ministers believes that the postponement of the entry talks will not have a negative effect on the region. Quite the contrary, the EU has sent a clear message to all political factors in the Western Balkans - only the rule of law and coming to terms with one's past will pave the way to European integration, Asselborn said.