ZAGREB, Feb 12 (Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday had a working lunch with ambassadors from more than 20 European countries - diplomats from the 15 EU member-states and 10 future members, government sources said.
ZAGREB, Feb 12 (Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday had a
working lunch with ambassadors from more than 20 European countries -
diplomats from the 15 EU member-states and 10 future members,
government sources said.#L#
The first meeting between Sanader as Prime Minister and European
diplomats was hosted by the ambassadors of Ireland and the
Netherlands, the current EU chair and the country which will chair the
EU in the second half of the year.
According to sources close to the government, the main topic of the
meeting was the current situation in relations between Croatia and the
EU. PM Sanader informed the ambassadors about his meetings during last
week's visit to Brussels.
The same sources say that Sanader is particularly satisfied with his
talks with the Dutch prime minister, who said that there should be no
problems with the ratification of Croatia's Stabilisation and
Association Agreement with the EU by the Dutch parliament if the
Croatian government continued working the same way it had done so far
and if the report of the chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes
tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was positive for Croatia.
Sanader informed the ambassadors that the Croatian authorities were
satisfied with the latest statements of Carla del Ponte, particularly
those made at the NATO headquarters, where she assessed Croatia's
cooperation with the tribunal as very good.
The PM also explained the government's moves regarding cooperation
with the tribunal, such as the de-politicising of the cooperation,
decisions regarding documentation in the cases of Gotovina and
Ljubicic, etc.
He also spoke about the implementation of the ruling party's
agreements with some parliamentary parties and representatives of
national minorities, especially the Serb minority, which refer to the
return of refugees, among other things.
The meeting also addressed the issue of protection of the Adriatic,
and Sanader informed the participants about talks on a fishing and
ecological zone in the Adriatic, which representatives from Croatia,
Italy and Slovenia held in Trieste today.
Sanader reiterated that Croatia would respect legal provisions on the
fishing and ecological zone, but that it appreciated its neighbours'
interests.
It is Croatia's position that the protection of the Adriatic is a
common interest of all the three countries and that solutions to
Italy's fishing interests and the demarcation of the sea border with
Slovenia must be found through talks.
Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic will discuss the protection of
the Adriatic and the fishing and ecological zone with European
Commission officials in Brussels at the end of this month, the sources
said.
They also said that the ambassadors commended the government's
decisions and its readiness to negotiate with neighbours as well as
the successful change of the ruling party's image in the foreign
media.
(Hina) rml