The European Union and the U.S. State Department have hailed the Croatian and Serbian presidents’ apologies for their peoples’ wartime crimes in a symbolic step to reconciliation 19 years after the war.

For the first time, Croatia’s Ivo Josipovic and Serbia’s Boris Tadic on Thursday jointly visited the graves of victims of the 1991 Serbo-Croat war and condemned the crimes.

The EU official in charge of enlargement, Stefan Fule, said Friday he welcomed that “important step to reconciliation,’ which is one of the values of the EU, which both countries seek to join.

State Department’s spokesman P.J. Crowley says Washington commends the two presidents for “advancing reconciliation.’

Regional co-operation is a key condition for EU membership.

November 05, 2010
Canadian Press

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