EU sees delay in Croatia talks despite last-ditch bid

The EU hailed Monday Croatia's decision to freeze fugitive war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina's assets as "an important step," but said Zagreb must still do more if it wants to start talks on entering the 25-nation bloc.

The comments came after Croatia, which insists it does not know where Gotovina is, said it had frozen his assets in a new bid to help the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) find him.

EU foreign ministers are due to decide on Wednesday whether to start the talks as planned on Thursday, but most of the EU's 25 member state governments have been opposed to giving a green light.

"It is an important step in cooperation with the ICTY which goes in the right direction," said a diplomat with the European Union's current Luxembourg presidency, after Zagreb announced the asset freeze.

"We are conscious of the judicial difficulties for the Croatian authorities to freeze" Gotovina's accounts, he said.

"But there are other aspects of Zagreb's cooperation with the ICTY which must be full," added the source, referring to the need for Gotovina to be handed to the court.

UN war crimes chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said the move had come "too late".

"It is all very well, but it is too late now. They should have done that several years ago," she said in Paris after meeting French President Jacques Chirac.

Gotovina, a 48-year-old retired general, is considered a war hero by many Croatians but is wanted by the UN war crimes court for the alleged murder of at least 150 ethnic Serbs during the final stages of Croatia's 1991-95 war.

He is also accused of plundering Serbs' property during the war, when Serb rebels opposed Croatia's split from the former Yugoslavia.

Earlier a senior Luxembourg diplomat said the EU ministers are likely to agree a "framework for negotiations," but underlined that approval of those talks starting will depend crucially on efforts to find Gotovina.

"The EU has done its part and is ready to start negotiations, as long as there is full cooperation" with UN prosecutors seeking Gotovina, the diplomat said.

Croatia, hoping to be the second former Yugoslav republic to join the European Union after Slovenia last year, was told in December that it could in theory start talks with Brussels on March 17 -- this Thursday.

But that green light was conditional on providing "full cooperation" with Del Ponte -- who said last week that this had not been forthcoming, and that Gotovina "remains within reach of the Croatian authorities."

Croatia has voiced hopes of joining the EU in 2007, but this target seems increasingly untenable.

Despite few signs of an imminent EU go-ahead, Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo Sanader retiterated on Monday he was confident that the talks would start, saying that the country has deserved it.

"We expect the talks to start on March 17 with every right to do so," Sanader said in an interview with Vjesnik daily newspaper.

"Croatia already lives Europe, if you mean by that a set of democratic standards, a functional democracy and free market ... rule of law, respect of human and minority rights," he said.