European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Saturday in Zagreb that Croatia must continue with reforms after receiving the go-ahead for E.U. accession talks earlier this week, dpa reported. Rehn, who was in Croatia for talks with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, congratulated the country on getting the green light for E.U. entry negotiations, saying they were the result of economic and political reforms and full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The talks had originally been put on hold in March due to Zagreb's lack of cooperation with the ICTY. Brussels however decided to approve accession talks with Zagreb Tuesday after ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte said that there was "full cooperation" with the war crimes court. Sanader said that the screening process, which evaluates the alignment of Croatian laws with E.U. standards, would start on October 20 and voiced hope that negotiations on some chapters would be opened soon and closed quickly.
