JURIST - Paper Chase: EU to delay entry talks for Croatia

[JURIST] The European Union [official website] is expected to announce later Wednesday that it has postponed discussion scheduled for Thursday over the entry of Croatia [government website] into the Europe-wide regional organization. Entry talks were scheduled for March 17, but 21 of the 25 EU nations have expressed a desire to see the talks postponed in light of Croatia's perceived failure to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website], as required by the EU for entry talks to begin. The main dispute over Croatia's cooperation centers around the failure of the national government to produce former Croatian general Ante Gotovina [Wikepedia profile] for trial at the ICTY in The Hague. Gotovina was indicted [official ICTY text] on charges of killing 150 Serbs and forcibly expelling over 150,000 others during the reoccupation of Croat territory from Serb forces. The EU asserts that Croatia has the ability to arrest and produce Gotovina and is intentionally delaying that event. Croation Prime Minister Ivo Sanader [official profile] denied the assertion [official Croatian press release] Tuesday, and announced his belief that talks would continue as scheduled. AP has more.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...