During his meeting with foreign journalists in Rome, Casini said on Thursday that Italy was an advocate of Croatia's admission to the EU.
Commenting on the dual citizenship act which the House of Representatives adopted last summer and the Senate approved on 9 February before its dissolution, Casini said the act, which regulates terms for ethnic Italians in Croatia and Slovenia to qualify for Italian citizenship, was supported by votes of a vast majority of MPs, both from the left and right parties.
The law sparked off heated debates and criticism in Croatia and Slovenia.
For the law to come into force Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has to sign it. According to Casini, the president will do so, despite some pressure of Slovenes and some Slovene associations in Italy, given that the act was endorsed by a vast majority of votes.
During Question Time in the Croatian parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that the Italian parliament had gone too far because the decision did not refer only to members of the Italian minority in Croatia but also to Croats almost exclusively in areas that were under Italy's occupation until the end of WWII.
"We cannot accept that," the PM said, adding that the decision of the Italian parliament was part of the election campaign. People with dual citizenship can be a bridge and not a problem of cooperation, but it has gone too far, Sanader said, adding that his cabinet would respond appropriately after it examined the decision from the international and legal aspects.
Italia could have vetoed Slovenia's admission to the EU and Croatia's bid, but it did not do and will not do it. Italy is lobbying among 25 EU member-states for Croatia's entry, Casini told reporters on Thursday.