The news agency quotes an unidentified official close to the Dutch EU chair as saying that some countries want the negotiations to start without any particular conditions, whereas others do not want them to start until Croatia's cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague is complete, in the wake of chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte's latest report to the UN Security Council, in which she said that fugitive general Ante Gotovina is the only obstacle to the cooperation.
Citing diplomatic sources, France-Presse says Great Britain is the most determined among the EU's 25 member countries in wanting the document to be adopted at the December 17 summit to be unyielding towards Croatia and to demand full cooperation with the Hague tribunal.
According to the agency, Slovenia has taken a rather harsh position due to border disagreements with Croatia.
Citing the same sources, France-Presse says that Germany, Austria, Ireland, Hungary and France advocate a less strongly worded document, and that the final text currently represents a balance between the two options.
According to the agency, this means that the start of the entry talks will be proposed on condition that the EU members confirm that cooperation with the Hague tribunal is full, while the concrete date of the talks will be decided by the EU heads of state and government.
France-Presse says that the world in principle perceives Zagreb's cooperation with the Hague tribunal as appropriate, with the problem being the failure to arrest Gotovina.
The agency quotes the Croatian Foreign Ministry's state secretary for political issues, Hidajet Biscevic as saying the Government is faced with the "impossible mission" of proving something for which it has no evidence, namely that Gotovina is not on Croatian territory.
France-Presse also quotes Croatian political analyst Radovan Vukadinovic as saying that the drop in citizens' support for admission to the EU reflects people's feeling that even if Gotovina were arrested, the international community would put some new demands before Croatia. He also says the Government is responsible for the declining support for EU entry because it has failed to inform the public about the advantages of EU membership.