HSS leader Josip Friscic told a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday that the domestic agricultural production was not competitive, which he said was why the government should protect certain products and agricultural production processes.
According to the HSS, complete liberalisation of trade between countries covered by a future enlarged CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement) would result in a rise in imports of agricultural produce and some food products in Croatia.
"Small and medium-sized farms have always paid an exorbitant price of integration processes," Friscic said, asking the government to adopt measures that would put an end to this.
At the news conference the opposition HSS presented its platform entitled "The Competitiveness of the Croatian Agriculture and Food Industry Towards Western Balkan States".
CEFTA currently consists of Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Macedonia. The first two countries will most probably enter the European Union next year and leave CEFTA, while Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania and Moldova are likely to join the organisation.
The HSS document recalls that the liberalisation of the domestic market after Croatia joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and after the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association with the EU entered into force led to a rise in imports of agricultural and food products in Croatia. In 2005, those imports reached a record 1.6 billion US dollars, making Croatia one of the leading European importers of food, given that it spent 376 dollars per capita on food imports.