Addressing a two-day conference in Zagreb on "Agriculture and Enlargement" which has drawn representatives of EU member-states and EU hopefuls, Sanader said that a strong agricultural sector is a prerequisite for a strong economy both in Croatia and in the European bloc.
Therefore, the current blockade of the policy chapter (negotiating area) on agriculture in Croatia's EU membership talks is more harmful, Sanader said, calling again on Slovenia to lift its veto on Croatia-EU negotiations.
Speaking about agriculture, Sanader said that the government was aware that the agricultural and food-making sector made up 10 percent of Croatia's Gross Domestic Product and provided employment for 13.5 percent Croatian workers.
We are also aware that agriculture is more than an economic branch, it is also a guardian of the environment and biological diversity as well as a guardian of our tradition, the premier said.
He said that Croatia would like to enter the EU with a strong and competitive agriculture and therefore his cabinet had raised over the last four years budgetary funds for the agriculture ministry from HRK 2.7 billion to HRK 4.1 billion annually and farmers' subsidies from HRK 2.3 billion to HRK 3.3 billion.
Sanader, however, admitted that the everyday situation of farmers could not be presented by those statistics.
Opening the conference together with Sanader, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel said that agriculture in EU newcomers had been fully integrated into the single market and that this was a success of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) system.
She added that farmers' income and agricultural produce exports had increased in new EU members.
As regards Croatia's EU accession negotiations, the commissioner said the talks had progressed well and praised the Croatian government for having done a good job in preparing the country for the implementation of the CAP.