BRUSSELS, Jan 17 (AFP) - Croatia cannot begin talks on joining the EU in March unless it fully cooperates with UN prosecutors seeking the handover of a key war crimes suspect, the European Commission warned Monday.
But European Union (EU) enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn voiced hope that Zagreb will do what is necessary to start the EU membership talks as scheduled on March 17.
"I trust Croatia's government will continue these intensified efforts so that full cooperation can be established" with UN war crimes prosecutors in The Hague, he said after talks with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
But he added: "If that is not the case, then we will not be able to start the negotiations ... which would be a huge disappointment for everybody."
The EU has been pressing Croatia to arrest retired general Ante Gotovina and hand him over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but Zagreb maintains that the 49-year-old has fled the country.
Gotovina went into hiding in 2001 when the UN war crimes court charged him with war crimes against ethnic Serbs during a 1995 military operation under his command.
The operation practically ended Croatia's 1991-95 war of independence from the former Yugoslavia, opposed by rebel Serbs.
Sanader pledged to do his utmost to satisfy the EU commission, which negotiates with EU candidate countries on behalf of the EU. "The government is doing all it can all in our power to resolve this last open issue," he said.
"We have offered and asked all member states of the EU but also outside of the EU to share with us every useful information."
"My government is in charge of Croatia and our services. If anyone, if any member state has any useful information, it should share with us this information," he added.
01/17/2005 17:09 GMT - AFP