LALANNE: CROATIA'S AGRICULTURE MUST ADJUST TO EU MARKET

POREC, April 24 (Hina) - Before joining the European Union, Croatia must develop its state administration to help farmers develop production, adjust the domestic market to EU standards, and invest into agriculture, a consultant for the Agriculture Ministry, Jean-Bernard Lalanne, said in Porec on Saturday.#L# Speaking at a seminar called "Croatia and European Integration: Agricultural Policy", which is taking place in the northern Adriatic resort this weekend, Lalanne said the staff of the Agriculture Ministry should be doubled and a payments agency should be established to manage the payment of incentives. For Croatia to have a good position at negotiations on EU membership, it must sort out its statistics because the European Commission also conducts statistical analyses and is likely to have better data than a candidate-country, Lalanne warned. Croatia must improve the quality of its products to increase their competitiveness because it is not competitive in terms of quantity and price, he said. Former candidates like Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary were allocated around 300 million euros annually for development and after it officially becomes a candidate, Croatia will start receiving EU assistance until it becomes competitive on the EU market, he said. (Hina) rml