BRUSSELS BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Hina) - Croatia must resolve its own problems in the cattle breeding sector, but not by closing its market to products from the European Union, Croatian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management
Petar Cobankovic said in Brussels on Monday after talks with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Fisheries Franz Fischler.
BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Hina) - Croatia must resolve its own problems in the
cattle breeding sector, but not by closing its market to products from
the European Union, Croatian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and
Water Management Petar Cobankovic said in Brussels on Monday after
talks with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Fisheries Franz
Fischler.#L#
This was the first high-level meeting on economic issues between
Croatia and the EU since the new government took office in Croatia.
"If we want to become integrated into the EU, which is Croatia's goal,
it is clear to us that we have to respect the rules of the game, but
within that we will try to obtain the best possible position,"
Cobankovic said.
The Croatian council in charge of monitoring bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) recommended last week that the Agriculture
Ministry allows imports of cattle and beef from EU countries with the
lowest incidence of "mad cow" disease.
The recommendation received a stormy response from farmers'
associations, which claimed that there was a surplus of young beef on
the Croatian market.
Cobankovic said that a decision had been made to subsidise the buyout
and that the problem of the surplus of cattle on the Croatian market
would be resolved. He announced that the ban on beef imports from EU
countries would be lifted as soon as the BSE Monitoring Council
reached a final decision on the matter.
The minister said that during the talks with Fischler he had asked
that the EU suspend subsidies to European producers for pork exports
to Croatia, and that Croatia be placed in a group of countries, such
as Romania and Bulgaria, for which pork exports are not subsidised.
Cobankovic also asked for the European Union to open its market to
imports of shellfish from Croatia, and said that this and the issue of
subsidised pork would be considered.
Speaking of a scandal relating to sugar exports to the EU, the
minister said that Croatia was introducing rigorous customs checks and
production supervision.
Following the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement
between Croatia and the EU, Croatia has increased sugar exports to the
EU markets several times over. It was found in a few cases that the
sugar did not originate in Croatia.
(Hina) vm sb