Croatia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Vesna Pusic, held an informal meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic in Dublin on Thursday, advising Serbia to address its objections to the work of the Hague war crimes tribunal to the United Nations as its founder and not to Croatia.
Although their official meeting was scheduled for Friday, the two ministers met on the margins of a meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council to discuss further cooperation and renewal of bilateral relations that were shaken by recent verdicts delivered by the Hague tribunal, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a statement.
"As far as we are concerned, Croatia has had full cooperation with the tribunal as an unavoidable condition for its progress towards the Union, which has lasted seven and a half years. We have cooperated in full, and this is the result of respect for international institutions. We believe that if our neighbours, with whom we are interested in having good relations, have any objections in that regard, these should not be addressed to Croatia but to the Security Council and the United Nations as the founders of the Hague tribunal," Pusic said in response to questions from the press after meeting with Mrkic.
Pusic also met with Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija who announced that a meeting was to be held in Brussels on December 19 when the outstanding issues concerning border crossings, passage through the Bosnian coastal town of Neum and access to the Croatian port of Ploce should be technically closed.
"I hope our commissions will make progress so that in the next six months we will settle the issues of border crossings and passage through Neum, which will make it possible for the Dubrovnik area to be fully integrated with the EU," Lagumdzija said, adding that all goods travelling through the port of Ploce to Bosnia and Herzegovina should be granted free passage.
On the subject of the possible construction of a bridge between the Croatian mainland and the Peljesac peninsula, Lagumdzija recalled that the European Commission should first prepare a feasibility study and then Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina should give their opinions, noting that the issue should be left to be dealt with by experts.
Pusic also met with British Minister for Europe David Lidington for talks on Croatia's efforts to meet the remaining requirements for EU membership. Lidington said that Croatia's EU accession treaty would be given a second reading in the British parliament in about ten days and he did not expect any obstacles to its ratification.
