VIENNA, Jan 4 (Hina) - The new Croatian government's priorities are bringing the country closer to the European Union and further democratisation, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told the Austrian daily Kurier of Sunday.
VIENNA, Jan 4 (Hina) - The new Croatian government's priorities are
bringing the country closer to the European Union and further
democratisation, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told the Austrian daily
Kurier of Sunday.#L#
"Our goal is not only to take Croatia into the EU in 2007 but also to
step up this process," he said, adding that the government also
intended to reduce unemployment and the external debt.
Asked about Croatia-Serbia relations, Sanader said, "We are very
interested in normalising relations with Serbia and will continue to
support its road to the EU. We'll keep the revocation of visas from
July 2003 between the two countries, but we have to see how the
situation in Serbia will develop".
Sanader stressed that the Serb minority, like other ethnic minorities
in the country, constituted a treasure and not a problem.
In the interview, the Croatian PM said he valued Austrian Chancellor
Wolfgang Schuessel as a "great European statesman". "He has shown that
he can lead his country well. The reformed HDZ (Sanader's Croatian
Democratic Union) and the Austrian People's Party are sister parties
and we share the same values. We are a conservative, Christian-social
centre-right party," Sanader said.
(Hina) ha