BRDO PRI KRANJU, Jan 30(Hina) - After his meeting with the Croatian prime minister, Italy's PM Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday evening that he was in favour of Croatia's speedy admission to the European Union and that the Italian
parliament would soon wrap up the process of ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Zagreb and the Union.
BRDO PRI KRANJU, Jan 30(Hina) - After his meeting with the Croatian
prime minister, Italy's PM Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday evening
that he was in favour of Croatia's speedy admission to the European
Union and that the Italian parliament would soon wrap up the process
of ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between
Zagreb and the Union.#L#
In addition, Berlusconi will lobby for Croatia in the British and
Dutch governments so that those two EU members ratify the SAA soon
too.
"We have supported Bulgaria and Romania, and we now support Croatia,
too," Berlusconi said in the Slovene resort of Brdo pri Kranju where
heads of government of Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Hungary met for a
day-long meeting.
At this meeting of the Quadrilateral Initiative, according to
Berlusconi, Zagreb was strongly supported for its ambition to start
the speedy process of integrating into the Union.
After the plenary session of the Quadrilateral initiative, Croatia's
Ivo Sanader held separate bilateral talks with his Slovene and Italian
counterparts, Anton Rop and Silvio Berlusconi.
After the talks with Berlusconi, the Croatian PM said they had
discussed the ecological protection of the Adriatic Sea and agreed on
dialogue to be held by experts so as to find a joint solution. Sanader
went on to say that the Croatian parliament's decisions to this effect
were not brought into question and that his country was open for
talks.
Berlusconi confirmed that they had talked about the declaration of the
ecological and fishing zone, and in this context he said he believed
that integral protection and joint action were necessary.
Speaking of real estate of Italians who used to live in Croatia, he
said this issue remained open for many years, and the meeting with
Sanader was an opportunity to give a new impetus to the relevant
commission that has already been set up to address the issue. The
restitution of some parts of said property would serve as
encouragement for tourism and to attract more capital in Croatia, the
Italian PM added.
(Hina) ms sb