Citing Zagreb's failure to fully cooperate with the international war crimes tribunal, senior European Union officials Thursday decided against recommending the start of E.U. membership negotiations with Zagreb on March 17. "The Luxembourg presidency has concluded that there is no agreement that Croatia meets E.U. negotiating conditions," said an E.U. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Luxembourg is current president of the 25-nation E.U. The decision to put off the entry talks was taken by the 25 E.U. ambassadors after long and difficult discussions. In initial reaction, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said he still hoped that Zagreb would start accession talks on March 17. "I think we can find a formula which would satisfy everyone; we (Croatia) need to take some steps and E.U. to accept us, to give us talks," he was quoted by Croatia's HINA news agency as saying. The E.U.'s focus has been on Croatia's failure to arrest Ante Gotovina, a former Croatian army general charged with war crimes by the ICTY and extradite him to The Hague. --More 2328 Local Time 2028 GMT
