Sanader said that in his address at the summit he underlined that the EU could not leave that unfinished business either to the UN or NATO or the US. "Europe must be the key player, obviously in a transatlantic partnership, because cooperation between Europe and America in the 20th century proved to be essential for world peace."
The EPP leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, premiers Jan-Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands, Janez Jansa of Slovenia, Lawrence Gonzi of Malta, Kostas Karamanlis of Greece, and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, as well as numerous European opposition leaders, adopted a declaration underlining the credit Democratic Christian leaders deserved for the process of Europe's unification.
Sanader said he had held bilateral talks with all prime ministers who attended the EPP summit. "Croatia has the full support of all, from Chancellor Merkel to everyone else. I think things are going very well as far as we are concerned. We have to do our homework and the rest will be fine."
Sanader voiced satisfaction with the declaration adopted at the EPP summit. "The idea of the European Union, integration and community is the only one that should be pursued."
The EPP is the umbrella organisation of Europe's People's and Democratic Christian parties and has the strongest faction in the European Parliament. In the declaration, they assessed the EU enlargement process so far as successful, saying that for future enlargement a candidate country must meet all membership criteria, while the EU must have the integration capabilities to accept the new member.
The declaration mentioned the EU's Judaeo-Christian roots, and said that with the collapse of communism the EU had become a space of freedom, security and wellbeing for nearly 500 million people.
Europe's Socialists, the second biggest faction in the European Parliament, also held a summit in Berlin and in their declaration too supported further enlargement. The EU has to expand stability, peace and prosperity by accepting other European states to its ranks, said the declaration.
Unlike these two declarations, a declaration the EU will adopt tomorrow does not directly mention enlargement, only a vague openness.