CROATIA: Green Light From European Union [18 November 2008]

Summary: In recent months, Croatia has been pushing for the green light to begin its bid to join the European Union, though talks have stalled due to ongoing organized crime that has plagued Croatia and resulted in the deaths of several people, including a prominent journalist.

Development: According to a report released by the EU, Croatia will join the European Union by the end of 2011, as long as the country deals appropriately with corruption organized crime and discrimination against Serbs.  Organized crime remains a major threat in Croatia.  In recent weeks, the country’s mafia has assassinated Ivo Pukanic, a newspaper editor, and killed the daughter of a prominent lawyer in Zagreb. Chief EU negotiator for Croatia, Vladimir Drobnjak, has said that authorities have been quick to act and have captured several people in response to the murder. EU officials have said that by giving Croatia the green light, they want to show the rest of Eastern Europe that hard work earns results. Other countries, such as Macedonia, have been given the red light due problems of corruption and organized crime that have not been addressed. As for Serbia, the EU has said that its timetable for admission cannot be addressed until Ratko Mladic, wanted for war crimes, is arrested.

Analysis: Despite its daunting challenges, Croatia likely will be the second country—it follows Slovenia—from the former Yugoslavia allowed to join the EU, as long as it stays committed to reforms. Croatia was one of the first countries to break off from the former Yugoslavia, and has had a head start in rebuilding its country, in the hope of joining the EU. Croatia initially failed to reform, despite receiving the most support from the international community after the 1995 war. There are many signs that General Gotovina, who was tried for war crimes by the Hague, still has powerful influence in the country. Ivo Pukanic’s death suggests this, as he was reporting on the corruption of Gotovina (pictured here). Croatia will have to dismantle the Gotovina network and its criminal enterprises and attacks on minority Serbs, if it wants to stay on schedule to join the EU.

[Adi Jarovic]

CROATIA: Increasing Anti-UK Sentiment [29 September 2005]

Summary:  The recent explosion in the British Embassy in Zagreb suggests some Croatians continue to resist British and broader European pressure for Croatia to come clean on war crimes issues.

Development:  Earlier this week, a small explosion detonated in the mailroom of the British Embassy in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, at 7:30am.  One employee was slightly wounded in the leg and taken to the hospital.  Responsibility for the bomb has not been claimed. 

Analysis:  This is the first explosion in the nation directed at a foreign target since Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.  London has been pressuring Croatia into a manhunt for General Ante Gotovina, a hero in Croatia, who was charged in 2000 with the killing of at least 150 civilian Serbs in the Krajina region in the closing stages of the Yugoslav war for independence in 1995.  Gen. Gotovina must be apprehended in order to show cooperation with International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is key to overcoming the main barrier for Croatia to become a member of the UN and of NATO.  Talks on entry to both organizations have been held up since March 2005 pending progress on the war crimes front.