President of the SR writes to the Croatian president

President of the SR, Ivan Gašparovič, assured the President of the Republic of Croatia, Stipe Mesič, in a personnel letter of the continued support of the SR for the integration aspirations of the Republic of Croatia. President Gašparovič wrote his letter to President Mesič with regard to the forthcoming date for the start of EU accession talks with Croatia on 17 March 2005. The start of discussions with the Republic of Croatia on accession to the European Union is threatened by the continuing doubts of some European Union member states regarding the willingness of Croatia to cooperate with the Hague International Criminal Tribunal.

President Gašparovič expressed the hope that Croatia would approach this task with maximum responsibility and that it would take every step in order to fulfil the requirements of the international community. In this regard, in his letter to his Croatian counterpart the Slovak President stated, inter alia, that “the objective evaluation of the recent, troubled history of your country requires a certain degree of self-reflection, which is very painful, but essential”.