ZAGREB, July 1 (Hina) - With today's entry into force of a US law that suspends military aid, Croatia will lose the American aid "in legal terms", but if it reaches an agreement with the US by next January, it will actually lose
nothing, Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic told Hina in an interview on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, July 1 (Hina) - With today's entry into force of a US law
that suspends military aid, Croatia will lose the American aid "in
legal terms", but if it reaches an agreement with the US by next
January, it will actually lose nothing, Deputy Foreign Minister
Ivan Simonovic told Hina in an interview on Tuesday.#L#
Last year the US Congress adopted a law suspending US military aid
to countries that refused to sign bilateral agreements with the US
on the non-extradition of US citizens to the newly-established
International Criminal Court (ICC). The law went into force on
Tuesday, July 1. During negotiations with an American delegation in
Zagreb in mid-June, Croatia refused to sign the non-extradition
agreement.
"In legal terms, as of July 1 Croatia will lose US military
assistance, but until January next year it won't actually lose
anything," said Simonovic, who had led the Croatian delegation in
the negotiations with the US.
He explained that the figures suggesting that Croatia would lose 19
million dollars in military aid were out of date.
"Of the 19 million dollars, about six million in military aid
intended for this year has been entirely spent with the approval of
the US, and there are no available funds until the end of the year,"
Simonovic said.
"The remaining 13 or so million dollars has been approved before,
but has not been used for various reasons," he said, adding that
Croatia would be allowed to use these funds because "the US has
announced that the law cancelling military aid won't be applied
retroactively."
"Until January 2004, Croatia actually won't lose anything,"
Simonovic underlined.
He went on to say that "a more comprehensive agreement" covering the
issue of extradition of American nationals to the ICC might be
reached during further talks, for which no date has been set as yet.
"The interests of the United States, the commitments of Croatia as a
party receiving American aid and Croatia's commitments towards the
EU would be reconciled in that agreement," Simonovic said.
Another possibility is for Croatia to be exempt from applying this
law by decision of US President George W. Bush if this is considered
to be in American interests. "This possibility was mentioned during
the talks. It was suggested that this was not very likely, but the
possibility exists," Simonovic said. He added that there was a
possibility of resolving the issue of extradition of Americans by
Croatia to the ICC as part of negotiations between the US and the
EU.
In answer to the question if there could be any other consequences
of Croatia's failure to sign the non-extradition agreement for the
US-Croatian relations, Simonovic said that this "mainly depends on
the US".
He said that "Croatia has stressed that it wants good relations with
the US. It has received assurances from the American side that
Washington is interested in Croatia's quick adjustment to NATO
standards." "I would, therefore, be optimistic about this, and I
don't think that the issue of the ICC may have any other
consequences for our relations."
At least 27 countries, including all of the remaining 18 NATO
members, are exempt from applying the American Servicemen
Protection Act. About 50 countries have signed bilateral
agreements with the US on the non-extradition of US citizens to the
ICC, according to the US State Department.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Monday that
about 30 countries risked losing American military aid. He declined
to name these countries.
Boucher said that every country would be assessed individually, and
that the importance of US military assistance to a certain country
did not necessarily mean that it would be automatically exempt from
implementing the act.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, the world's first
body competent for war crimes trials, started working in mid-June
when Luis Moreno Ocampo was sworn in as the chief prosecutor. The US
is not a member of the ICC for fear that it may be used for the
politically motivated prosecution of American citizens.
The court is authorised to try individuals for war crimes,
including genocide, crimes against humanity and aggression, that
were committed after the Rome Statute entered into force on July 1,
2002. The Statue, which established the ICC, has been ratified by 90
countries, including Croatia, and signed by 139.
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