UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte paved the way for Croatia's stalled European Union accession talks to start by telling the EU today Zagreb was cooperating fully with her tribunal on war crimes.
"I trust we can very soon start negotiations with Croatia," said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn after Del Ponte delivered her verdict to a meeting of EU foreign ministers. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also said he now saw no hurdles to talks beginning but gave no indication of timing.
Del Ponte called on Zagreb to maintain the hunt for fugitive war crimes suspect ex-general Ante Gotovina, but said its failure to capture him was not a sign of lack of cooperation.
"I can say that, for a few weeks now, Croatia has been cooperating fully with us and is doing everything it can to locate and arrest Ante Gotovina," she said in a statement to the meeting in Luxembourg.
She rejected suggestions she had buckled under EU pressure with the aim of encouraging Austria -- a supporter of Zagreb's EU ambitions -- to give its reluctant blessing for Turkish accession talks to begin at the same meeting.
"After six years in this job, people know they can't use pressure to change my views," she told a joint news briefing with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
Sanader welcomed her statement and said it was now up to the EU to take a "proper decision" on launching entry talks, stalled in March when Del Ponte said Zagreb was dragging its heels.
He vowed to continue hunting Gotovina, sought on charges of crimes against humanity during a 1995 offensive to defeat rebel Croatian Serb forces. Del Ponte believes he is either in Croatia or Bosnia.
Talks with Croatia could in theory start immediately. But one British diplomat said EU ministers first wanted to formally open accession negotiations with Turkey, who was promised last December that it could start talks on October 3. Another said it was unlikely Croatia negotiations would also start on Monday.