"We must not yet give Serbia the green light to join the EU"

"We must not yet give Serbia the green light to join the EU"

Former Minister Dražen Bošnjaković spoke about the prosecution of war criminals in a show on HRT. He said that there are four specialized war crimes courts in Croatia - in Osijek, Rijeka, Split and Zagreb, as well as four state prosecutor's offices that have special departments for processing war crimes.

"It is difficult to conduct proceedings in these acts. Often the perpetrators of these acts are unavailable, and witnesses are also unavailable. These are not easy evidentiary procedures, it is difficult to get documents or witnesses," Bosnjakovic said.

He added, however, that work still needs to be done.

In that context, he also mentioned Serbia, which he said should not be given the green light to join the EU until it proves that it is based on the rule of law, and that is to face its past and its role in this area.

He also believes that Serbia must prosecute people who committed war crimes. Furthermore, he said that in Serbia, proceedings are being conducted against a small number of the people, but that this is also going very slowly and that it is not enough "given all the evil that has been committed in this area."

"In the process of negotiations, Croatia must not accept that Serbia is not processing everything that is possible," Bosnjakovic stressed, adding that Croatia could block the negotiations and reiterated that every country that enters the EU, as was the case with Croatia, must prove that it is based on the rule of law.

He also said that the messages sent yesterday, that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sent envoy Veran Matic to Ovcara and Boris Milosevic joined the Vukovar Remembrance Procession, were messages that gave hope that relations would be better and that we would make progress. .

He also concludes that more time is needed for everything to settle down and that justice should be satisfied.