ZAGREB, CROATIA - Croatia has received a demarche from the EU, which the Czech presidency handed over to Zagreb, but that does not mean Europe will close its doors to Croatia, but rather, it is stimulation for a speedy opening of chapters on the judiciary and basic rights, Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic said in Zagreb on Friday. 

Simonovic said this after some media published the news that the Croatian government had for a week kept secret information that the EU had sent a demarche to Croatia because of the ‘artillery diaries’. He added: “Croatia is not keeping anything secret”.

The demarche is not an ultimatum, Simonovic said, explaining that it was “a legal and political diplomatic form that is used to send a powerful message which does not necessarily have to be negative”.

- On the contrary, if we speak about the EU’s demarche that the Czech presidency submitted, that demarche applauds the agreement between Croatian institutions and the Hague’s prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, about the identification of 23 key documents, as well as further efforts to credibly explain the whereabouts of those documents – Simonovic said.

He added that the Croatian government was urged to implement that agreement as soon as possible. Therefore, he added, this is by no means closing the door for Croatia, but in fact, a push to open chapter 23 as soon as possible, which relates to the judiciary and basic rights.

‘We are ready’ 

The European Commission has already given a green light and some countries are still waiting for the opinion of prosecutor Brammertz about Croatia’s cooperation with the Hague’s international war crimes tribunal, the minister said, adding that Croatia could expect progress in opening Chapter 23 in the following weeks.

- We did not waste time and wait for the final green light. We are ready. We have prepared our negotiating standpoint. We are waiting for the green light so we can submit it and the stance of the EU and we are hoping that the negotiations will begin as soon as possible – Simonovic said.

In agreement with the prosecutor, he explained, it has been clearly defined which important documents Croatia has already handed over, it had been established which documents Brammertz expected Croatia to have which Croatia never had because they were never drawn up, and it has been established that there are 23 documents that have been drawn up, but are currently not in the Croatian government’s possession.

We still need to shed light on what happened to those documents that existed, but are now unavailable to Croatian authorities, the minister said.