On the other hand, the report mentions 2009 as the year in which the European Parliament could agree to Croatia's accession to the European Union. This is the first document mentioning that year as the start of Croatia's membership.
Also rejected were amendments voicing concern that some initiatives by the Croatian government, notably the offer to financially support the defence of generals and the request to be granted amicus curiae status in cases before the Hague war crimes tribunal, could be misinterpreted as presumption of innocence.
The report's author, Austrian Socialist Hannes Swoboda, had drawn up a compromise amendment mentioning the possibility of international mediation or arbitration as a way of solving the Croatian-Slovene border dispute.
This amendment urged the Croatian and Slovene governments to exploit every possibility available to agree on border issues, taking into account agreements reached so far and the European Council's conclusions of June 17-18, 2004, and called on them to refrain from any unilateral action that might undermine such an agreement.
If such an agreement is not reached, the two parties are called upon to consider resorting to a third party, through mediation or international arbitration, in order to close contentious border issues, the compromise amendment said.
They were also called upon to use the months ahead to agree on the substance of the dispute or on a procedure to close it, either through mediation or arbitration.
However, during the vote on each amendment to the draft progress report, the first part of this amendment was supported by the majority of the Foreign Affairs Committee, whereas the second one mentioning arbitration was rejected.
Swoboda said after the vote that an unbalanced result had been achieved regarding the border issue, and reproached the deputies of the European People's Party, who had been divided on this issue.
This is not a good result for Croatia and I hope the EPP will be of more help at the plenary session, he said.
The progress report, which was endorsed by all attending Committee members, will be on the agenda of a European Parliament plenary session which will pass it as a legally nonbinding resolution.
In a statement to the press, Swoboda said that Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's party colleagues had made a turnaround against Croatia, but added he would work on this issue and hoped the result would be better eventually.