President Fischer, who on Sunday was a guest of the ORF broadcast ' Journalist's Hour', said that "Turkey can in no way be compared to Croatia with regard to their accession to the EU. Croatia is a country in close neighbourhood of Austria, Hungary and Slovenia, it is making great efforts to meet its obligations, and has made exceptional headway in the process of its preparation, particularly in the economy. It has some problems in cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. But all other things are in favour of ensuring prospects for Croatian to become a full member of the EU."
In this context, the Austrian head of state said that Turkey was a specific problem. He explained that Austria had made a series of analyses of Turkey's entry into the EU and added that Turkey's negotiations with the EU would be difficult and careful. Besides, Turkey has a population of 70 million and all of this should be taken into consideration, he said.