In relation to the legislation which Croatia passed in late June and which is dubbed Lex Perkovic as opponents of the new legislation believe the time limits for the application of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) have been introduced by the government in a bid to prevent the extradition of former Yugoslav intelligence agent Josip Perkovic, a Croatian national wanted in Germany on charges of having masterminded the political killing of a Croatian dissident in Bavaria in 1983, PM Milanovic said in his interview with the national television (HTV) on late Monday evening that there was that rule in the European Union which he found to be "twisted" and "discriminatory against countries".

The same rules do not apply on Croatia or on Slovenia that negotiated its accession to the EU a few years before, as they are subject to more stringent requirements than Austria or France. It is about the extradition of one's own nationals. We believe that it is a topic for talks, Milanovic told the HTV.

He reiterated that the time limits which Croatia had introduced were for the purpose of preventing the handover of Croatians who might be charged by some other country for criminal offences that occurred during the Homeland Defence War.

I can only wonder why Croatia had not before initiated prosecution against that man (Perkovic) or started investigating that crime that happened in 1983 so as to avoid that the expiry of the statute of limitations, he said.

Croatia has to submit to the European Union by 23 August the exact deadline by which it will adjust its national legislation on the European Arrest Warrant to that of the European Union.

The commissioner responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, Viviane Reding sent a letter to Croatian Justice Minister Orsat Miljenic in late July, saying that what Croatia had done on 28 June, by adopting amendments to the law on the European Arrest Warrant, was not in line with the European legislation and that it must be corrected. Reding told Miljenic in the letter that Croatia must determine the exact deadlines by which it would implement changes to the law so as to align it with the EU acquis communautaire, and she expects an answer by 23 August.

Even if we might act as requested by Commissioner Reding, we cannot extradite him (Perkovic) due to the expiry of the statute of limitation, Milanovic said.

Therefore we (the government) are intending to amend the Constitution: if there is no statute of limitation, there is no obstacle to extraditions, he said.

The law adopted on 28 June by the Croatian parliament on judicial cooperation in criminal matters with EU member states provoked plenty of criticism from the opposition and a share of the public as well as dissatisfaction from the European Commission over the regulation under which limits the warrant to crimes committed after August 2002. Being faced with this criticism, the Social Democratic Party led by Milanovic has made a proposal to change the constitution so as to abolish the statute of limitations for politically-motivated grave crimes such as assassinations of Croatian dissidents who fled the former Yugoslavia so that they might be prosecuted in Croatia.