Asked by the press why the Croatia progress report, which the EC released today, did not state that Italian citizens were discriminated against in relation to other EU citizens in real estate purchasing, Rehn said bilateral issues were not covered by regular reports and that the EC became interested in them only when European legislation was breached.
Rehn said the EC was studying the issue and expected additional information from Croatia. He added that in this issue the Commission cooperated in good faith with the Italian and Croatian governments.
Foreign citizens may purchase real estate in Croatia by the reciprocity principle between their home country and Croatia. Italy is not on the list of countries with which Croatia has this principle.