The Council will continue to deal with that issue in July, during the British presidency, and I hope that in July new progress will be signalled, Asselborn told reporters.
In conclusions adopted at a regular monthly meeting in Luxembourg today, EU foreign ministers called on Croatia to continue with intensive efforts to implement its action plan aimed at solving the case of runaway general Ante Gotovina and committed themselves to discuss again the opening of membership talks with Croatia in July.
The next meeting of EU foreign ministers will be held in Brussels on July 18.
The ministers agreed today that the issue of enlargement should not be put on the agenda of the upcoming EU summit, to be held in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. They agreed on draft conclusions for the EU summit.
According to diplomatic sources, European leaders are expected to comment on the continuation of enlargement with only one sentence, in which they will reiterate their commitment to decisions adopted in December last year.
At the December 2004 summit, EU leaders decided to open membership talks with Croatia and Turkey, setting as the condition for Croatia its full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, and for Turkey the recognition of Cyprus.
This does not necessarily mean that there will be no discussion on enlargement because any member-country can raise any issue at the summit.
According to earlier plans, the issue of enlargement was scheduled for discussion at the summit. Diplomatic sources have said the fact that it was removed from the agenda does not mean that the EU wants to slow down the enlargement process due to the constitutional crisis.