ZAGREB, July 21 (Hina) - Talks on a stabilisation and association agreement with the European Union will start only after Croatia has made progress in meeting the already known requirements set by the international community, and in
September it will be judged whether it has managed to do it, Finland's Ambassador Osmo Lipponen said in Zagreb on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, July 21 (Hina) - Talks on a stabilisation and association
agreement with the European Union will start only after Croatia has
made progress in meeting the already known requirements set by the
international community, and in September it will be judged whether
it has managed to do it, Finland's Ambassador Osmo Lipponen said in
Zagreb on Wednesday. #L#
According to Lipponen, agreements on electoral legislation and
Croatian Television (HTV) and the speeding up of refugee return are
well-known preconditions for Croatia to really start drawing
closer to Euro-Atlantic associations.
Answering a question as to whether Croatia will have enough time by
September to make the required progress, Lipponen said there would
be enough time if political readiness existed.
The Finnish ambassador said there were significant differences
among EU ministers regarding EU's further relations towards
Croatia, because some countries expressed strong opposition to
opening technical negotiations by setting up a joint working group
(Task Force). He added the dissension was so strong that the
ministerial meeting was interrupted for a while, but a compromise
was still adopted upon Finland's intervention.
Lipponen was also asked to comment on the visit of ICTY Chief
Prosecutor Louise Arbour in light of views presented by Croatian
officials.
He said that Arbour spoke very clearly, and that the jurisdiction
for further steps rested with the United Nations and The Hague
Tribunal, not the EU. He added that Arbour stressed that Croatia had
been stalling the fulfilment of some ICTY requests for three
years.
The Finnish ambassador estimated that arguments presented by
Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic during the meeting
with Arbour were not plausible.
Lipponen finds it odd that the Croatian Government does not want to
extradite Vinko Martinovic Stela to The Hague before he has served
his eight-year prison sentence in Croatia. He also claims that
there is no sense in calling operations carried out with the aim of
liberating Croatia's occupied territory exclusively 'police'
actions, although the whole Croatian army participated in them.
Lipponen also commented on his country's six-month mandate at the
head of the EU, saying his country planned a number of reforms of the
way the EU was operating, but one had to wait for the already started
reforms to end before commencing new ones.
(hina) rml