The EU Council of Ministers has postponed opening membership talks with Croatia, which were scheduled to have begun on March 17, until agreement is reached within the EU that Zagreb is fully cooperating with the Hague tribunal.
Rehn said that Brussels was in contact with the tribunal and the Croatian government and that it was aware of the intensified efforts by the Croatian government to prove that it was cooperating fully.
I hope Croatia will soon reach the level of full cooperation, which means locating and extraditing Gotovina, Rehn said.
EU leaders have set up a task force to evaluate the degree of Croatian cooperation with The Hague. The task force -- consisting of representatives of the current EU president, Luxembourg, the next two presidents, Britain and Austria, Rehn and EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana -- is due to meet for the first time in Luxembourg on April 26 when it will hear the views of the Hague tribunal's prosecution and the Croatian government.