European Forum

War files stand in way of Croatia's EU accession

Croatia is poised to be the first country to join the EU since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007. However, in Croatia’s accession process, considerable challenges remain regarding access by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to important documents on the use of artillery by Croatian forces during the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. These are needed in relation with the trial of general Ante Gotovina, indicted by ICTY for war crimes while expelling Krajina Serbs from Croatia in 1995 under the “Operation Storm”.

Vice-president of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament and rapporteur on Croatia, Hannes Swoboda, said Croatia must do everything possible to locate the documents sought by the UN war crimes tribunal, known as 'the artillery files', or must prove that they never existed or have been destroyed. On the other hand Swoboda argued that the country's EU membership should not depend on just one element of co-operation like the artillery files, because otherwise Croatia's co-operation with the ICTY was in his words "very good".

The UK, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium and Denmark are blocking the opening of chapters on the judiciary and fundamental rights in Croatia's EU accession talks, over objections to the artillery logs, which the ICTY requested for the trial of Gotovina and another two retired Croatian generals.

An interview with Swoboda “From Zagreb to Brussels: Swoboda on Croatia’s EU ambitions” can be red here.

Source: Euractiv and website of the European Parliament