The Sarajevo press today reported that the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, confirmed that Croatia was fully cooperating with the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal.
The Dnevni Avaz daily quoted Croatian President Stjepan Mesic as saying that his country could now again calculate about admission to the European bloc in 2008.
The Oslobodjenje quoted Prime Minister Ivo Sanader as stressing that Croatia will continue to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
However, a mood of despondency prevailed on the front pages of newspapers with an emphasis on a statement of EU foreign ministers, who convened in Luxembourg on Monday, that Bosnia-Herzegovina would not be able to start negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) as long as the authorities in the Serb entity were refusing a state police reform, proposed by the European Commission.
Later this week, the managing board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) in Bosnia-Herzegovina is expected to make a decision on penalising the Serb entity's authorities if they fail to accept the proposed police shake-up in next two days.
Meanwhile, newspapers in Slovenia were surprised at the news that Croatia was given the green light for the start of the entry talks with the EU.
The press recalled that several days ago Del Ponte pointed out her disappointments with the fact that the runaway Croatian General Ante Gotovina was still at large. Politicians, however, said that this was "an expected scenario" and that the latest developments were also favourable for Slovenia which still had some outstanding issues with Croatia.
"During the negotiations, Croatia will have to be more responsible in treating international matters and towards neighbouring countries. Slovenia, which is already an EU member, will now have greater opportunities to exert its influence, and even to block the negotiations, as a last resort," said Josef Jerovsek, the chairman of the Slovene parliament's foreign affairs committee. Jerovsek is a member of the ruling Slovene Democratic Party (SDS).
The editorial in the Delo daily reads that "despite the green light, Croatia is not much closer to full membership that it has so far been". The editorial reads that Zagreb will have to transfer Gen. Gotovina to The Hague before closing all the negotiating chapters".