"The Croatian government is determined to adjust the administration at all levels to standards necessary for EU membership," Sanader said addressing a two-day regional ministerial conference on effective democratic administration at local and regional levels, which began yesterday in the Croatian capital.
That's why Croatia is preparing reform of local administration and self-government with emphasis on the comprehensive decentralisation of authorities which will be followed by fiscal decentralisation. Guidelines for the reform are cited in a national programme and cover almost all areas of life, such as public health, finance, education, environmental protection, defence, etc, Sanader said.
A part of Sanader's speech focused on the current stage which Croatia has reached in a bid to enter the European bloc.
In this context, he said that "Croatia's ambitions have been recognised in Europe" and voiced confidence that the European Council would in December define precise dates for the start of entry talks with Zagreb.
Commenting on the difficult period of transition marked by wars which countries in Southeast Europe had passed through after the fall of Communism, Sanader said that those countries "deserve to be given a European chance, on condition that they meet all criteria necessary for EU membership".
"After receiving the positive opinion (on its membership application) and the status of an official candidate, Croatia has become the leader on this path, and it is willing to offer all possible assistance and support to those who want it on their path towards the Union," Sanader said.
Before Sanader, his deputy, Jadranka Kosor, addressed the conference. Kosor stressed that "citizens are the basis of true democracy, and effective democratic administration at the local level offers them the possibility to participate in the authorities".
She informed the conference that Croatia had adopted its first law on local administration and self-government in 1992.
While leaving the conference hall after his speech, PM Sanader was approached by reporters who asked him about his assessment of the conference,
"The conference is important as developed EU member-states, which is what we want to be, respect the principle of subsidiarity", he said adding that he was also a proponent of this principle, which implied that all that could be tackled at the local level should not be raised to higher levels.
Asked to comment on a statement by Slovene Janez Potocnik, a member of the European Commission, who said that Croatia stood no chance of joining the EU in 2007, Sanader said that all was proceeding as planned, and Croatia was looking forward to the start of the entry talks in early 2005. The PM said he hoped that his country would meet all the necessary criteria by 2007 and that it was up to the EU to decide on the date of Croatia's admission.
Asked to comment on Austria's initiative to arbitrate in the (border) dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, Sanader said that Croatia would first advocate a bilateral resolution of the problem, and if that turned out to be impossible, the problem would be sent to arbitration, after which a decision on the arbitrator would be made.
The conference on local self-government, which was organised by the Croatian government, the Council of Europe, and the Stability Pact, pooled representatives of Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina's two entities, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania, Macedonia, the UN Mission in Kosovo, and Moldova.
Croatia was praised by the participants for its organisation of the event.