MEISE, March 25 (Hina) - Croatia's Prime Minister and the chief of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, who on Thursday attended a meeting of leaders of parties-members of the European People's Party (EPP) in Meise,
outside Brussels, met several prime ministers and members of the European Commission who gave support to Croatia on path towards the European Union.
MEISE, March 25 (Hina) - Croatia's Prime Minister and the chief of the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, who on Thursday attended
a meeting of leaders of parties-members of the European People's Party
(EPP) in Meise, outside Brussels, met several prime ministers and
members of the European Commission who gave support to Croatia on path
towards the European Union.#L#
The European People's Party is an association of some 60 Democratic
Christian, Popular and Conservative Parties. Its members gathered at
Meise for the EPP Statutory Summit in preparation for the next EU
summit in Brussels, which will be dominated by the work of the
Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), international relations and
security.
Sanader held bilateral meetings with his counterparts Wolfgang
Schuessel of Austria, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Juhan Parts of
Estonia and Mikulas Dzurinda of Slovakia, as well as with European
Commission Vice-President Loyola de Palacio and the European
Commissioner for regional policy, Michel Barnier of France.
Sanader also met the head of the parliamentary faction of the
Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) in the Dutch parliament, Maxime
Verhagen.
This has been yet another good opportunity for me to acquaint premiers
and party leaders from EPP ranks with our stands and expectations of a
positive opinion of the European Commission on Croatia's EU membership
application in April, Sanader said.
He added that Loyola de Palacio had expressed full support and said
that Croatia had the right to expect a positive avis.
We expect full and unreserved support from the EPP, an association to
which the HDZ also belongs, Sanader said adding that his party had
applied for associate membership in the EPP a few weeks before.
At the moment the HDZ is a an observer as the status of a party in
this group is equivalent to the status of a country, and Croatia is
not yet an associate member.
The Meise meeting of the EPP revolved around the fight against
terrorism. Participants adopted a resolution on the matter, calling
for closer cooperation between intelligence services and for the
enhancement of cooperation with the Arab and Muslim world so as to
encourage moderate political forces.
(Hina) ms