The joint committee, representing a new form of cooperation between the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament, was established in accordance with a decision of the European Parliament of March 2004, which appointed members of a special delegation for relations with Croatia, and a decision of the Croatian Parliament of October 2004.
This will be the first direct meeting of representatives of the two legislatures, who have so far cooperated through the Committee for Southeast Europe.
Twelve representatives of the most important political groups in the European Parliament will arrive in Zagreb, along with the Austrian Johannes Swoboda, European Parliament rapporteur for Croatia, Georges Santer, representative of the chairman of the EU Council of Ministers, and David Daly, chief operations officer for accession talks with Croatia who will represent the European Commission.
The two sessions of the joint committee will be chaired by the head of the Croatian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Gordan Jandrokovic, and the Hungarian Pal Schmitt, a People's Party member of the European Parliament.
The sessions will be attended by the State Secretary at the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Hido Biscevic, and chief Croatian negotiator Vladimir Drobnjak, and the participants will be addressed by Croatian Parliament President Vladimir Seks.
The joint committee is expected to adopt a joint declaration and recommendations, assessing the political and economic situation in Croatia and to what extent Croatia met the special political criteria for membership, including cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, judicial reform, refugee return, minority rights protection, and the reform of media legislation.
The European members of the joint committee held a preparatory meeting last week, with most of them advocating that the membership talks with Croatia should start on March 17 and that Croatia was meeting all the requirements, including the one relating to cooperation with the Hague tribunal, diplomatic sources told Hina.
The Croatian Parliament expects the two-day meeting to close with the adoption of a statement expressing support for the opening of entry talks on March 17, Jandrokovic said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The European parliamentarians are also expected to meet President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.