Participants in the meeting discussed the importance of national parliaments during accession negotiations with the European Union as well as their role after their country is admitted to the Union.
The European Integration Committee chairman, Neven Mimica, said the Sabor had so far been engaged to the greatest extent in adjusting the domestic legislation to European Union standards, and that relations of the government and the parliament in the process of the accession negotiations had also been defined. Mimica pointed out the importance of the national committee that will supervise the entire process.
In this context, Lord Grenfell said that Great Britain had a good system in which the government was accountable to the parliament in relation to the EU legislation. Good supervision of the government by the parliament is of constitutional importance, he said.
The Sabor Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Gordan Jandrokovic, said all parliamentary parties had reached full consensus on the issues regarding the European Union. Jandrokovic also spoke about the other two Croatian foreign policy priorities -- entry into NATO and good regional cooperation. In this context he added that over the recent years Croatia had developed excellent relations with its neighbours.
Lord Grenfell expressed full support to Croatia's bid to join the European bloc. He said that he had been convinced in 2002 that Croatia had already been ready to follow European standards, adding that he was optimistic about Croatia's chances to become a full EU member in 2007, the press release said.