Sir, Your assertion that Croatia has “forced its way back to the table” through a “squalid deal” achieved by its “neighbour and former imperial ruler” although “war crimes suspect was not handed over” (leading article, October 5) is not true.

No EU candidate is in a position to force its way to the EU as the rules of the game are clear. The decision on opening the talks with Croatia, which you qualified as “unwelcome”, was taken back in December 2004, providing the full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY). Austria’s row with the EU partners over Turkey is entirely unrelated to it. Austria had backed down on the Turkish issue before the discussion on Croatia even started. No country could have discussed Croatia before the Chief Prosecutor reported to the Council.

The onus has been on Croatia all the way as she was meeting the obligations required for the opening of the EU accession talks. This will remain so. As the Croatian PM stated in Luxemburg, the full co-operation with ICTY remains an obligation for Croatia: “. . . until the last remaining indictee is in The Hague, or as long as The Hague requires”.

Your claim that Croatia has used the Turkish human rights record to argue in its favour is simply untrue. No Croatian official has done so.

As for the regional impact of the EU decisions, it is with utmost pleasure that the Croatian Government welcomes the EU’s decision to open talks on the association and stabilisation agreement with Serbia and Montenegro. We firmly believe that it will prompt our neighbours to step up their already considerable efforts in cooperating with ICTY.

JOSKO PARO
Westminster, London

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