Croatian PM defiant over EU sanctions

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) Croatia's prime minister said Tuesday his government will not speed up changes to a law banning extradition of suspected criminals despite the imminent threat of EU sanctions.

Zoran Milanovic said that amendments won't take effect before July 2014. He added that "this is Croatia's internal issue."

"I will not allow anyone wipe the floor with us," he said.

The law was adopted a day before Croatia formally became EU's 28th member on July 1. Sanctions could involve suspending EU funds for Croatia's border controls, and would represent an embarrassment for the new member state.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Tuesday that "it seems rather clear that there will be sanctions."

Reding said that if the country was able to enact legislation virtually overnight just before the accession, it should also be able to revise it within days.

The law officially is intended to protect veterans of its 1991-95 war for independence from prosecution abroad. Critics say that, in fact, it is intended to protect a former Croatian intelligence chief sought by Germany in the murder of a Croatian dissident.

Perkovic, who created Croatia's secret service once the nation split from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, worked for the Communist Yugoslavia's secret service in the 1980s.

Milanovic insisted that Croatia was not trying to protect anyone, but needed more time because the issue was sensitive for the country.

President Ivo Josipovic, however, adopted a more conciliatory tone, urging for changes to the law "as soon as possible."

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Jovana Gec in Serbia and Juergen Baetz in Brussels contributed.