VIENNA VIENNA, March 24 (Hina) - Relations with the EU remain the top priority and represent the main strategic objective of Croatia's government, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Vienna on Wednesday at the European People's Party's
(EPP) Study Days on the topic of the EU and its new neighbours.
VIENNA, March 24 (Hina) - Relations with the EU remain the top priority
and represent the main strategic objective of Croatia's government,
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Vienna on Wednesday at the European
People's Party's (EPP) Study Days on the topic of the EU and its new
neighbours.#L#
Croatia is determined and committed to fully implement all political
criteria to join the EU, including cooperation with the war crimes
tribunal in The Hague, respect of ethnic minorities' rights, the
return of refugees, the strengthening of regional cooperation, and the
judicial reform, Sanader said.
He voiced confidence the Study Days would contribute to the vision of
the EU's development in coming years, a time when he said Croatia
expected receiving a positive European Commission opinion of its EU
membership application, being granted candidate status, starting
accession negotiations, and eventually joining the Union.
Peace, stability and progress in its neighbourhood are vital Croatian
interests, and Croatia will do everything to help its neighbours and
the international community achieve stability and progress in the
region, Sanader said.
Croatia will actively take part in joint efforts aimed at ensuring
long term stability in the region, thus contributing to the stability
of Europe as a whole, he said, adding that Croatia remained loyal to
regional cooperation.
Being granted EU candidate status will not only bolster reforms in
Croatia, it will also clearly show other countries participating in
the Stabilisation and Association process than the reform route pays
off, both for a country's citizens and for its integration into the
EU, Sanader said.
He stressed that there was no alternative for the countries in
Europe's southeast but the pro-European orientation, and said Croatia
could be a bridge linking the EU and the Balkans.
Croatia wants all of its neighbours to have a future in Europe because
after 14 years of crises and wars, including the recent unrest in
Kosovo, Europe has to focus on its southeast more effectively so as to
stabilise it, Sanader said.
He added Croatia supported international efforts to ensure stability
and security in the region. It is important for stability to return to
the region, for political stability to be achieved so that every
country can be ensured a future in Europe according to its merits and
values, Sanader said.
The speakers in the debate on the EU's neighbours after the upcoming
enlargement described the countries of South Eastern Europe as having
a European future. They advocated applying the individual approach to
every country drawing closer to the Union based on each country's own
achievements. In this respect Croatia has been part of Europe for a
long time, they stressed.
This statement was repeated by Wim van Velzen, a member of the
European Parliament and deputy chairman of the EPP faction in the
Parliament, who also said he expected that in obtaining the European
Commission's positive opinion of its EU membership application,
Croatia would be strongly supported by Commission President Romano
Prodi and the commissioners for enlargement and external relations,
Guenter Verheugen and Chris Patten.
(Hina) ha