These are challenging times for Croatian policy-makers. Last October, after several months of haggling between Zagreb and the European Commission over Croatia’s willingness to cooperate with the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, the EC decided to open EU accession negotiations with Croatia.
Although briefly boosting the popularity of the centre-right minority cabinet of premier Ivo Sanader, membership negotiations will place heavy demands on the government, particularly in the areas of healthcare reform, environmental protection and competition policy.
