CROATIA: An EU taskforce agreed yesterday that Croatia is not yet fit to begin accession talks, although it made progress in co-operating with a UN war crime crimes tribunal.
Diplomats said Zagreb's performance would be assessed again at the earliest in mid-July and perhaps not until October.
If the recommendation is backed by EU foreign ministers today as expected, EU president Luxembourg will probably take the issue off the agenda of the summit next Thursday and Friday.
EU leaders decided in March that membership negotiations would begin only when the former Yugoslav republic co-operated fully with The Hague tribunal in capturing and handing over fugitive general Ante Gotovina, who is still at large.
Diplomats said the EU task force, comprising officials of Luxembourg, Britain, Austria and the commission, sided with UN prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who reported Croatia had shown progress but was not fully in compliance. "The task force will make an oral recommendation to the council (EU ministers) and it will say there is not yet full co-operation on Croatia's part," said an EU diplomat.
The prosecutor has complained that in Croatia "the networks supporting Gotovina within the institutions remain active and no decisive move has been made against them".
Ms Del Ponte, who is to report to the UN Security Council today, has said it will take three to four months to assess whether Croatia is serious about implementing an action plan to track Gotovina down.
Seen by many Croats as a hero of the 1991-95 independence war, Gotovina is accused of excessive use of artillery and of responsibility for the deaths of Serb civilians and widespread looting during an offensive against rebel Serbs.