Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Friday he was "satisfied" with the European Union leaders' decision on opening membership talks with Croatia next April, providing Zagreb works with the war crimes trial for former Yugoslavia (ICTY). "This is one of the important dates in Croatian history...our obligation to fully cooperate with ICTY does not end with this decision, we need to solve the only remaining outstanding issue," Sanader said. In the case of Zagreb, full cooperation with The Hague-based tribunal means arrest and extradition of the fugitive war crimes suspect General Ante Gotovina, whom ICTY charged with war crimes against the Serbs in 2001 and who has been on the run ever since. "I want to believe that Gotovina will realise that any delay (in surrendering) will harm both him and Croatia as well," Sanader said. Opposition parties including the Social Democrats, the party of the former prime minister Ivica Racan, also said they were satisfied with the E.U. decision. However, the leader of the far-right Croatian Party of Rights, Anto Djapic, said: "Croatia got nothing in Brussels today." -
