In relation to the initial proposal by the Dutch EU presidency, which stated that the accession talks would start at a certain date on condition that the Council of the European Union confirms Croatia's full cooperation with the UN tribunal, it is now suggested that the text of the proposal should only read that cooperation with the ICTY must be confirmed, without mentioning who would have to do it.
Reliable information on the date of the start of accession talks is still not available. According to some sources, the EU foreign ministers will propose that the talks start in March, while others claim that setting the date will be left to EU leaders. There has been no official confirmation regarding the start date and the press conference of the Dutch Presidency announced for this afternoon has been postponed for later in the evening.
According to unofficial sources, a group of countries including Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and some other countries have suggested leaving out from the draft conclusions on Croatia any conditions regarding the start of the talks, but this was opposed by Great Britain and several other countries.