The victorious social democrat, who ran on a platform advocating legality and EU integration, moved to ease the tension between his country and neighbouring Serbia by claiming that if Serbia meets Croatia's requests, "there is no reason to proceed [with the lawsuit]".
Croatia's file against Serbia at The Hague has been open since 2 July 1999 and relates to the breaching of the Genocide Convention by the army of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia against the ethnic Croatian population. The International Court of Justice ruled against Serbia's preliminary objections on 18 November 2008.
Serbia had long demanded that Croatia withdraw its lawsuit and resolve issues related to the Balkan civil wars outside the tribunal. "Serbia considered in previous years, and still believes, that it is always better for all conflicts from wars during the 1990s to be solved in extra-judicial processes, through peaceful means. However, for such an approach of Serbia, partners on the other side are needed."
After failing to convince Croatia, however, Serbia also sued Zagreb for genocide at the ICC on 4 January 2010 with a specific focus on the operations carried out by Croatian forces during Operation Storm (4-8 August 1995).
The legal tensions appear to have unexpectedly thawed with the election of Josipovic, whose move is even more unexpected, as he was one of the drafters of the Croatian lawsuit against Serbia.
Serbian President Tadic was quick to respond to this signal. He congratulated Josipovic and stated that Serbia and Croatia both shared a future in the EU. Both countries "play a decisive role in the process of transformation of the Western Balkans into an area of long-standing stability and sustainable development," he said.
Regarding the lawsuit, he reiterated that "there is no collective guilt and every criminal has his own name and surname. Criminals must be punished for their crimes for the sake of victims and their families and for the sake of reconciliation in the Balkans".
Furthermore, Tadic and his Democratic Party pushed for an official parliament declaration condemning the massacre of Srebrenica of July 1995. The exact wording of the text has spurred vehement political discussion.
The move could prove a further step in appeasing not only Croatians, but also The Netherlands, which remains the most important veto holder over Serbia's EU candidate status due to the involvement of Dutch troops in stopping ethnic cleansing during the Balkan wars.
