With reference to the statement given by Ms. Carla del Ponte...

With reference to the statement given by Ms. Carla del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY, at the press conference during working visit to the OSCE in Vienna, on 4 November 2003, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues the following statement:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its dissatisfaction with the way the Chief Prosecutor connected the entry of Croatia into the EU and the extradition of General Ante Gotovina. Croatian authorities have undertaken and will undertake all cooperation measures with the Hague Tribunal, including bringing indicted persons before the Tribunal. They regularly inform the Prosecution Office and the interested foreign Governments on steps undertaken, and seek at the same time all possible assistance and cooperation. Regardless of all measures undertaken, General Gotovina is not accessible to the Croatian Government. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs fully accepts that the international commitment of full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal is one of the important conditions for beginning the negotiations for EU membership. However, in this cooperation, a distinction is to be made between what is possible and what is not objectively possible. We are pleased that this view is also held by some of the top officials of the international community.

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