It is important that countries aspiring to join the European Union and NATO are treated individually because that will enable a positive competition among the countries involved, Grabar Kitarovic said on the second day of an international seminar in Dubrovnik.
The three-day seminar, entitled "Towards Euro-Atlantic Integration: Progress and Challenges in Southeast Europe", was organised by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in cooperation with the Croatian Parliament.
Croatia had to watch how irresolute the international community was in the 1990s and now that it has managed to make up for the lost time and has met the criteria for the start of membership talks, Croatia is again being put on hold, Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt said.
Skare Ozbolt said that Croatia had been fully cooperating with the Hague war crimes tribunal in the last year, and added that a postponement of membership talks with the EU would strengthen anti-European forces in the country.
The two topics discussed at the seminar today were "Southeast Europe: The Role of the European Union" and "Southeast Europe: The Role of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia".