ZAGREB, Jan 22(Hina) - Croatia has deserved a positive opinion of its EU membership application by the European Commission, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Thursday, stressing that his cabinet was willing to meet the criteria and
tasks before it.
ZAGREB, Jan 22(Hina) - Croatia has deserved a positive opinion of its
EU membership application by the European Commission, Prime Minister
Ivo Sanader said on Thursday, stressing that his cabinet was willing
to meet the criteria and tasks before it.#L#
In a speech closing the "Croatia 2020 - Visions and Prospects for
Politics, Economy and Society" conference which the German Konrad
Adenauer Foundation organised in Zagreb, Sanader said he was
optimistic about the meeting of criteria set before Croatia.
"I expect the European Union avis as announced, by the end of March,
and the opinion of the European Council, i.e. the decision on
Croatia's candidate status and the start of negotiations in June," the
PM said.
"Croatia is ready. Let them evaluate us by our achievements and
criteria fulfilment, but there's no doubt that Croatia has deserved a
positive opinion within that deadline, as was announced, as well as
the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement
(SAA)."
"The avis, the European Commission's opinion, is not legally
conditional on the (SAA) ratification. They are two separate
processes," Sanader said.
He called on the Netherlands, Italy, and Great Britain, which have not
ratified the SAA, to do so.
"I think that by deciding that Croatia become an official EU candidate
and that negotiations begin, the European Commission (and) the
European Council would send out a strong signal to the Croatian
public... as well as to neighbouring countries," he added.
Croatia is ready for Europe and for helping the international
community reach lasting political stability in South East Europe, he
said, adding that his government's priorities were reinforcing
democracy, economic growth, and higher living standards and purchasing
power, Sanader said.
He said the war had stalled Croatia's development, a war he added had
ended only after the whole Croatian territory had been liberated in
1995. Without the war, Croatia might now have been among the countries
joining the EU on May 1, he said.
Recalling that Croatia had gone through a difficult period, Sanader
called on the country, as a Croatian citizen and its PM, not to waste
what he said was precious time on bickering over what happened in the
past. "The past will not and must not be forgotten, but one needn't
waste precious energy on debates about it."
Speaking about minorities, he said they were a treasure, not a
problem.
As for foreign affairs, he said there were two parallel priorities --
EU and NATO entry, and advancing relations with neighbours.
"They have to run parallel... since we wish to nurture good relations
with neighbours, we wish to close (and) resolve the open issues which
mainly stem either from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, as is
the case with Slovenia, or from the war, which is the case with the
eastern neighbours."
Sanader thanked the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for organising the
conference and for its work in Croatia.
(Hina) ha sb