During a summit in December that year, leaders of the then-25-member bloc set March 17th 2005 as the starting date for Zagreb's entry negotiations, making it conditional on the country's full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Tokom samita u decembru te godine, lideri tada 25-člane Unije odredili su 17. mart 2005. kao datum početka pregovora Zagreba o prijemu, koji je bio uslovljen potpunom saradnjom zemlje sa Međunarodnim krivičnim tribunalom za bivšu Jugoslaviju.