The meeting at the Split hotel was opened by Hans-Gert Poettering, chairman of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament. He complimented Croatia and underlined the big friendship between the strongest group in the EP with Croatia and his personal friendship with PM Sanader.
Poettering explained a misunderstanding surrounding his recent interview with Reuters by stating that he said that European Union enlargement without a EU Constitution was questionable but that Croatia was on its road to the Union.
That is exactly what I said and the formulation used by the Reuters journalist was never mentioned, said Poettering.
Complimenting the Croatian government, he said he had always believed Sanader when he was saying that he did not know the whereabouts of war crimes fugitive Ante Gotovina and that this was why Croatia could not arrest him.
That proved to be correct because Gotovina was arrested in Spain and it was the Gotovina case which prolonged Croatia's EU integration, added Poettering.
In his address, Sanader welcomed the parliamentarians from all over Europe, saying he was proud and happy that such an event was taking place in Croatia and in his home town of Split.
Europe can create a peaceful future for all its citizens and this is the only way, said Sanader, adding that the European unification project was important for all citizens of the continent.
He recalled that it was the EPP which immediately after World War Two advocated Europe's unification, and that he was certain Croatia would be a member of the EU today if a war had not been imposed on it in the early 1990s.
Croatia also serves a the EU's bridge to Southeast Europe and it is very important that Croatia as well as other countries become EU members as soon as possible, said Sanader. He added this was where the EPP became very important because it was a great friend and one of the biggest advocates of Croatia's EU membership.
The main part of the conference began under the title "On the Road to Joining the EU".
The EPP-ED group has 264 deputies from all 25 EU member countries.