Serbia Makes Deal with Croatia on EU Chapters 23 and 24

June 3rd, 2016- Serbia's chief negotiator on EU accessions, Tanja Miscevic, stated that Croatia has accepted Serbia's proposal to address the remaining disputes between them and come to a conclusion in a regional context without foreign council.

The mutual agreement to accept the deal means that not only does “Serbia not need to abolish the law on universal jurisdiction for war crimes, an act which the Croatian government disputes, but that under the agreement, Croatia could block trials of its citizens accused under this law in Serbia” Miscevic told N1television.

Under Serbia’s law on war crimes, the court has the permission to trial anyone accused of war crimes, committed in any former Yugoslav state regardless of the nationality of the alleged perpetrator or victim.

Croatia strongly objects to this law in response claiming that the law does not adhere to the countries constitutional right. As well, before talks began, Croatia openly demanded of Serbia to cooperate with the Hague War Criminal Tribunal, the ICTY and respect national minority rights. Croatian Foreign Minister, Miro Kovac, said that that Serbia would get the green light to open Chapter 23 and 24 only when all of Croatia’s interests have been recognized and adopted into the framework.

Kovacs concluded by stating, “We will form a working group with representatives from the [Croatian] Ministry of Justice, Veteran Affairs and Interior matters, and then we will determine the positions of Croatia so they can be integrated into the EU negotiation position on this Chapter.” Kovac underlined that Croatia would fight to ensure that Croatian war veterans are protected from prosecution by the Serbian courts.