We advocate that Croatia be the first country to join the EU with a new constitutional solution and not the last one to join based on the existing Nice agreement, said Hannes Swoboda and Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice presidents of the Socialist club of deputies.
Speaking to a group of reporters from Southeast Europe, they said that did not necessarily mean the constitution in its existing form but finding a new solution based on which the EU would function in the future.
Swoboda said it was unacceptable to amend the Nice agreement only to make it possible for Croatia, which intends to wrap up accession negotiations by the end of 2008, to join the Union.
He voiced confidence the EU would wrap up the constitutional process by 2009, resulting in either the existing constitution or some other solution, and that Croatia would join between 2009 and 2011.
In any case, Croatia will join far sooner than the other western Balkan countries, said Swoboda and Wiersma. They opposed what they labelled some tendencies visible in the European People's Party, notably the CDU and the CSU, under which Croatia should join because it is a Catholic country.
Croatia, as well as other countries, should join the EU based on its own merits, they said.
They also maintained that Croatia's role in the region would increasingly grow and that it could become a bridge between the EU and the western Balkans.