Deputies had until March 1 to submit amendments to the report compiled by Austrian Socialist Hannes Swoboda. Although the report acknowledges the progress Croatia has made in a number of areas, including EU integration, it is critical of war crimes trials, judicial reform and the reform of the state administration.
The report criticises the sometimes hostile position on the local level towards initiatives that question Croatia's role in the early 1990s war of independence, it asks that Zagreb actively support the prosecution of war criminals, and the document regrets at the fact that the government has offered to assist in covering the defence costs for Ante Gotovina, a general accused by the Hague war crimes tribunal, and that it has requested to be granted friend of the court status in the Gotovina case and some other cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The report also criticises the slowness of judicial reform, asks that Justice Minister Ana Lovrin present plans on the reduction of the number of courts as soon as possible, and appeals for a friendly agreement on border disputes with EU member Slovenia.
According to diplomats, a Croatian letter rejecting or explaining some points in the report is circulating among members of the European Parliament.
The letter says the government decided to partially finance Gotovina's defence costs, as was the case with all Croatian generals accused by the UN court, due to their low income, and that it had requested to be granted amicus curiae status but that the tribunal turned the request down in December.
Commenting on the report's figures indicating that public support for Croatia's EU accession is dropping, the Croatian letter says that recent surveys have shown that support is growing and is now at 53 per cent.
As regards border issues, the letter says the issue of border demarcation at sea between Croatia and some neighbouring countries has yet to be closed, notably with Slovenia.