Croatia is making progress and things are moving in the right direction, said Borut Pahor, the Slovene member of the European Parliament who chaired the meeting.
Members of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee heard speeches by Croatia Ambassador to the EU Branko Baricevic and Allan Jones of the Enlargement Directorate general, who is in charge of Croatia.
Jones too said Croatia was going in the right direction, but added that the challenges in the negotiations ahead must not be underestimated. He voiced hope the competition of political parties in the election year would not adversely affect the negotiating process, saying that accession to the EU held all-round importance for Croatian citizens.
In a debate, Pahor mentioned the Croatian parliament's decision from last December to start applying an ecology and fisheries protection zone in the Adriatic to EU countries as of early 2008. He said that this unilateral decision had not been against Slovenia or Italy, but was contrary to European Council conclusions from June 2004, when Croatia was given EU candidate status.
Both Pahor and Jones said that trilateral negotiations on the matter were under way on a technical level with the EC's mediation. Jones said one such meeting was held in Italy in January.
Pahor welcomed the fact that the EC had decided to mediate in searching for an appropriate solution, which he said would represent a compromise satisfactory to all sides.
In his address, Baricevic spoke of what Croatia had done and was doing in the accession and reform process since the last meeting of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting last October 3-4.
Today's meeting adopted the agenda for the Zagreb session in March, including a debate on the current state of negotiations and preparations for accession, with an emphasis on the judiciary, the fight against corruption, and war crimes trials at national courts.
The session is also due to address the reform of the state administration, refugee return, national minorities, Croatia's relations with neighbours, and the state of adjustment of national legislation to EU standards.