"Croatia will urgently take the necessary steps to swiftly and unconditionally align the law on judicial cooperation in criminal matters and to be fully aligned with the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant for all crimes, independently of when they were committed, by removing the time limit which prevented its application to crimes committed before 7 August 2002," Miljenic told reporters after a meeting with Reding.

The law is expected "to go into force as soon as possible, by 1 January 2014 at the latest. The going into force and application of amendments will not be limited by any conditions," he added.

The European Commission welcomes the steps Croatia has taken to make sure that all criminals are brought to justice. In this context, a swift, efficient and unconditional alignment of the law on the application of the European Arrest Warrant in accordance with the European acquis communautaire will make it possible to act on all demands for the extradition of suspected or convicted criminals within the European Arrest Warrant system, independently of the date when the crimes were committed, said Reding.

Croatia had already expressed willingness to amend the contentious law and enforce it as of 1 July 2014, but this was unacceptable to the European Commission. Last week, the Commission began consultations with member countries on the activation of a safeguard clause from Croatia's EU accession treaty because the law in question was not aligned with the acquis. The member countries had ten working days to state their positions.

This was followed by intensive diplomatic activity and contacts to prevent the imposition of sanctions. On the day the Commission announced the possible sanctions, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic spoke on the phone with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. They agreed to do everything to prevent the sanctions, after which Croatian representatives were constantly in contact with the Commission.