Baden-Wuerttemberg believes Croatia must become an EU member, he said. Our federal state will not be confused by the postponement of the negotiations, and you must not allow it to confuse you either, Mueller said after talks with a State Secretary in the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Gordan Bakota.
The position of Baden-Wuerttemberg about this issue is quite different from the official position of the German government, presented on 17 March in Brussels, Mueller told reporters.
The positions are different and our position was publicly stated by Baden-Wuerttemberg Prime Minister Erwin Tueffel on March 16 and 18, the day before and the day after the decision from Brussels, Mueller told reporters.
The state minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which is one of the most developed German federal states populated by about one third of 300,000 Croats living in Germany, arrived in Zagreb to attend a constituent session of a joint commission of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Republic of Croatia, which he chairs together with Bakota.
The two officials signed a protocol dealing with very concrete areas of cooperation on the front of European integration processes, judiciary, home affairs, economy, environmental protection, culture, education, etc.
According to Mueller, the protocol is not dealing with higher spheres but it focuses on concrete projects such as the exchange of experts from Croatia and Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Croatian State Secretary Bakota stressed that cooperation with Baden-Wuerttemberg was at the highest possible level and added that its support to Croatia's membership of the EU confirmed the identical standpoints of Croatia and Baden-Wuerttemberg on the foreign political front.
Apart from Bakota, Mueller also held talks with the Croatian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the economy, Damir Poloncec, who informed the German official of the economic situation in Croatia.
Polancec said Germany's experience in developing small and medium-size entrepreneurship was was very important to Croatia.
The German official stressed tourism could be the central point of the development of Croatia's economy because it was oriented towards small and medium-size entrepreneurs and connected to a number of other fields.