Foreign Relations of Croatia - History

History

Croatian foreign policy has focused on greater Euro-Atlantic integration, mainly entering the European Union and NATO. In order to gain access to European and trans-Atlantic institutions, it has had to undo many negative effects of the breakup of Yugoslavia and the war that ensued, and improve and maintain good relations with its neighbors.

Key issues over the last decade have been the implementation of the Dayton Accords and the Erdut Agreement, nondiscriminatory facilitation of the return of refugees and displaced persons from the 1991-95 war including property restitution for ethnic Serbs, resolution of border disputes with Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and general democratization.

Croatia has had an uneven record in these areas between 1996 and 1999 during the right-wing HDZ government, inhibiting its relations with the European Union and the U.S. Improvement in these areas severely hindered the advance of Croatia's prospects for further Euro-Atlantic integration. Progress in the areas of Dayton, Erdut, and refugee returns were evident in 1998, but progress was slow and required intensive international engagement.

Croatia's unsatisfactory performance implementing broader democratic reforms in 1998 raised questions about the ruling party's commitment to basic democratic principles and norms. Areas of concern included restrictions on freedom of speech, one-party control of public TV and radio, repression of independent media, unfair electoral regulations, a judiciary that is not fully independent, and lack of human and civil rights protection.

A centre-left coalition government was elected in early 2000. The SDP-led government slowly relinquished control over public media companies and did not interfere with freedom of speech and independent media, though it didn't complete the process of making Croatian Radiotelevision independent. Judiciary reforms remained a pending issue as well.

Major Croatian advances in foreign relations during this period have included:

• admittance into NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme in May 2000
• admittance into World Trade Organization in July 2000;
• signing a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU in October 2001
• becoming part of NATO's Membership Action Plan in May 2002
• becoming a member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in December 2002
• application for membership in the EU in February 2003
• full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and the beginning of accession negotiations with the EU in October 2005

The EU application was the last major international undertaking of the Račan government, which submitted a 7,000-page report in reply to the questionnaire by the European Commission.

Foreign relations were severely affected by the government's hesitance and stalling of the extradition of Croatian general Janko Bobetko to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and inability to take general Ante Gotovina into custody for questioning by the Court.

Refugee returns accelerated since 1999, reached a peak in 2000, but then slightly decreased in 2001 and 2002. The OSCE mission in Croatia has continued to monitor the return of refugees and is still recording civil rights violations. Croatian Serbs continue to have problems with restitution of property and acceptance to the reconstruction assistance programmes. Combined with lacking economic opportunities in the rural areas of former Krajina, the return process is highly troubled.

At the time of Croatia's application to the European Union, three EU countries were yet to ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy.

The new Sanader government repeated the assurances that Croatia will fulfill the missing political obligations, and expedited the extradition of several ICTY indictees.

The European Commission replied to the answers of the questionnaire sent to Croatia on April 20, 2004 with a positive opinion. The country was finally accepted as EU candidate in July 2004. Italy and Britain ratified the Stabilization and Association Agreement shortly thereafter, while the ten EU countries that were admitted to membership that year ratified it en masse at a European Summit.

In December 2004, the EU leaders announced that accession negotiations with Croatia would start on March 17, 2005 provided that Croatian government cooperates fully with the ICTY. The main issue, the flight of general Gotovina, however, remained unsolved and despite the agreement on an accession negotiation framework, the negotiations did not begin in March 2005.

On October 4, 2005 Croatia finally received green light for accession negotiations after the Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY, Carla Del Ponte officially stated that Croatia is fully cooperating with the Tribunal. This has been the main condition demanded by EU foreign ministers for accession negotiations. The ICTY called upon other southern European states to follow Croatia's good example. Thanks to the consistent position of Austria during the meeting of EU foreign ministers, a long period of instability and the questioning of the determination of the Croatian government to surrender war criminals has ended successfully. The Croatian Prime minister declared that full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will continue.

As of 2010, the following states have not extended diplomatic recognition to Croatia:

Bahamas, Bhutan, Burundi, Central African Republic,Comoros, Djibouti, Dominica, Kiribati, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Niger, Palau, Rwanda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Somalia, Swaziland, Tonga,Tuvalu.