CROATIA ENJOYS SUPPORT OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

STRASBOURG, Jan 13 (Hina) - Croatia enjoys the full support of the European Parliament as regards admission to the European Union on condition it meets the set criteria, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said after meeting European Parliament President Pat Cox in Strasbourg on Tuesday.#L# "We have the full support of the European Parliament for our ambitions on condition Croatia meets all the criteria set before it," Sanader said, reiterating that some government plans were very ambitious - obtaining an opinion of the European Commission in two to three months' time, obtaining EU candidate status in June, and having the date for the start of membership negotiations set. "This is a very ambitious plan, but there is a wide consensus in Croatia about accomplishing (those goals)," Sanader said. European Parliament President Cox said he and Sanader had discussed EU membership criteria, judicial reform, minority rights, refugee returns, and full cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He said that PM Sanader had assured him that his government was determined to respond with concrete moves to each of those challenges. Cox confirmed that he sent an invitation to Croatian President Stjepan Mesic to address representatives in the European Parliament in the near future and that Croatian Parliament President Vladimir Seks was invited to a meeting of parliament presidents from 10 countries which would join the EU in the spring. The meeting will be held in Budapest next month. (Hina) rml sb