NO CHANGE IN EU POLICY TOWARDS CROATIA

STRASBOURG, Jan 13 (Hina) - The European Commission (EC) will not treat Croatia differently because the government has changed and has no new conditions to set before the country, European commissioners for external relations and enlargement Chris Patten and Guenter Verheugen said after meeting new Prime Minister Ivo Sanader in Strasbourg on Tuesday.#L# Patten said the EC had a clear message for the new government, identical to the one for the previous government, namely that there were no new tests and that political and economic criteria remained the same. The government changed in Croatia but there were no changes in the EC or its policy, he said, voicing hope the EC would be able to formulate its opinion of Croatia's European Union membership application in the spring. Verheugen said he highly appreciated the messages given by the Croatian delegation and thought the government's strategy covered every area important to the EC, namely cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, refugee return and the reform of the justice system. "Any misunderstanding that may have arisen after yesterday's meeting has been cleared up and there are no new conditions," Sanader said, voicing satisfaction with the views outlined by Verheugen and Patten. After meeting Sanader yesterday, EC president Romano Prodi linked the definition of the EC opinion of Croatia's membership application to the ratification of the Croatia-EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement by the countries which have not yet ratified it -- Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy. Sanader spent the last two days in Brussels and Strasbourg by meeting top officials of the EC, the European Parliament and NATO in an effort to present the new government's steps aimed at stepping up integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. The Croatian delegation also included Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul, Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic, and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. (Hina) ha sb