Croatia: EU Accession Negotiations

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:59 pm on 22 March 2005.

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Photo of Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Minister of State (Middle East), Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Minister of State (Middle East), Deputy Leader of the House of Lords 2:59, 22 March 2005

My Lords, on 16 March, European Union Foreign Ministers adopted the mandate for Croatia's EU accession negotiations, but postponed the opening of negotiations themselves because of concerns about the lack of full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. That followed confirmation by the ICTY chief prosecutor that the negative assessment in her November 2004 report to the United Nations Security Council remained unchanged. Foreign Ministers made it clear that the EU stood ready to open negotiations with Croatia as soon as co-operation with the ICTY was full.