BRUSSELS - Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, warned Monday that accession talks with Croatia would start this week only if fugitive general Ante Gotovina was transferred to the UN war crimes court by Thursday.
"The negotiations will begin on March 17 provided General Gotovina is transferred, and this must be done," Juncker said in a statement released by his EU office.
EU foreign ministers are due to decide on Wednesday whether to start the talks as planned on Thursday, but most of the EU`s 25 member state governments have been opposed to giving a green light.
Gotovina, a 48-year-old retired general, is considered a war hero by many Croatians but is wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for the alleged murder of at least 150 ethnic Serbs during the final stages of Croatia`s 1991-95 war.
Juncker said EU member states had not yet agreed on opening talks.
"There is no unanimity at the moment," he said. "The conditions have not yet been fulfilled."
The comments came after Croatia, which insists it does not know where Gotovina is, said it had frozen his assets in a new bid to help the ICTY find him.
Croatia, hoping to be the second former Yugoslav republic to join the European Union after Slovenia last year, was told in December that it could in theory start talks with Brussels on March 17 -- this Thursday.
But that green light was conditional on providing "full cooperation" with ICTY prosecutor Carla Del Ponte -- who said last week that this had not been forthcoming, and charged that Gotovina "remains within reach of the Croatian authorities."
Croatia has voiced hopes of joining the EU in 2007, but this target seems increasingly untenable.
03/14/2005 19:11 GMT