Kroatien: Zitterpartie nach Europa – Zwischen EU-Konditionalität und politischen Manövern
Croatia: - Back and Forth to Europe - Between EU-Conditionality and Political Maneuvers

Summary/Abstract: 2005 has been a very turbulent year for Croatia. In March, the European Union decided to postpone the start of membership negotiations due to the failure of the Croatian authorities to arrest ICTY war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina, who is still on the run. The spring and summer of 2005 brought an uprising of nationalism and a series of interethnic incidents in Croatia. Although these tensions were also the result of domestic political developments, the European Union contributed with its conditionality to the weakening of the pro-European forces and the creation of a broad anti-European coalition. It seemed that the EU risked the fragile stability of the whole region for the sake of showing its own consequence. But thanks to a surprising assessment by ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, Croatia is now fully co-operating with the tribunal, and thanks to a package deal at the European Summit in October 2005, the membership negotiations could finally start. Hopefully, this positive decision will contribute to revive the stagnating reform proces in Croatia.

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