LJUBLJANA, April 21 (Hina) - The Slovene press and electronic media on Wednesday reported that yesterday's decision of the European Commission to voice a positive opinion on Croatia's European Union membership application was a great
success of the government led by Ivo Sanader particularly after 'different signals' which had arrived from Europe on the matter in the recent months.
LJUBLJANA, April 21 (Hina) - The Slovene press and electronic media on
Wednesday reported that yesterday's decision of the European
Commission to voice a positive opinion on Croatia's European Union
membership application was a great success of the government led by
Ivo Sanader particularly after 'different signals' which had arrived
from Europe on the matter in the recent months.#L#
Delo daily published a report of its Strasbourg correspondent
headlined 'New Candidate for the European Union' and 'the Commission's
Positive Opinion about Croatia'.
The paper wrote that "Croatia meets political and economic criteria"
although "there is still much to be done" and that Zagreb's
cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague had been
improved.
The paper added that European Commissioners Chris Patten and Guenter
Verheugen had given 'favourable statements' on Croatia after the
announcement of the avis and expectations that Croatia would continue
with positive efforts on the road towards the Union.
The daily emphasised the crucial importance of a positive opinion
which the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte gave on
Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal. It quoted Patten as telling
the European Parliament that Zagreb's cooperation with the ICTY had
been far from perfect but that the situation in this segment "has been
much improved in the recent months".
The daily quoted Verheugen as saying that Croatia was a good candidate
and that he expected the definition of the date for the start of the
accession talks at the European Union's summit in Brussels this June.
The Delo also said that in its report the European Commission wrote
that good relations between Croatia and Slovenia had deteriorated
because of different positions on a series of unsolved (bilateral)
problems, and that the latest case was Croatia's proclamation of a
protected fishing and ecological zone. This, the daily, quoted, was
not in line with European principles for regional cooperation.
The Slovene Radio quoted its Zagreb correspondent as saying that the
positive avis "is important for regulating Slovene-Croatian
relations".
The Ljubljana daily issued an article headlined "the Green Light for
Croatia" and asserted that the key step for giving a positive avis was
Carla del Ponte's assessment of Croatia's cooperation with the
tribunal.
"The current Croatian government has met all of her requests. Only
General Gotivina remains at large. He has been on the run for almost
three years. Agents led by the new head of Croatian secret services,
Josko Podbevsek, are reportedly on the his trail," the daily wrote.
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