Ultimatum Kroatië over uitlevering verdachte aan VN-tribunaal (en)

The EU has delivered an ultimatum to Croatia. Its fugitive war crimes suspect, General Ante Gotovina must surrender to the UN tribunal in The Hague by tomorrow, (16 March) or Croatia's negotiations on EU membership will be postponed.

The deadline was passed to Zagreb by the current president of the EU Council, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

EU foreign ministers are due to decide on Wednesday (16 March) whether to start the talks as planned on Thursday. Most of the European Union's 25 governments are opposed to giving the go-ahead.

"There is no unanimity at this point", Mr Juncker said after a meeting with heads of national parliament's foreign affairs committees in Luxembourg on Monday (15 March).

"The conditions are not met", he added.

EU leaders decided in December to open accession negotiations with Croatia on 17 March provided that there was full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

At the time they said that the remaining indictees must be located and transferred to The Hague as soon as possible.

The Croatian government protests that it does not know the whereabouts of Mr Gotovina - indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes against ethnic Serbs at the end of Croatia's 1991-95 war.