Speaking about Croatia's achievements and expectations on the path to the EU, Minister Grabar Kitarovic said Croatia was awaiting a positive decision of the European Council. She expressed hope the negotiations with the EU would be launched in March or April 2005.
"I am confident Croatia has deserved it and this will be the continuation of the process of Croatia's drawing closer to EU membership. It is important for Croatia to meet criteria by 2007 and then it will be up to the European Union to make a decision on Croatia's admission," the minister said.
"We want to develop a European democracy with a strong market economy in Croatia in order to ensure better life to Croatian citizens, and prospects of EU membership are a strong catalyst for all changes we are making," the Croatian minister said.
The chief negotiator in the European Commission's Directorate for EU enlargement, Philip Cornelius, said Croatia had missed out on the fifth enlargement round because of a difficult political and economic situation after the war, but added that the country was now shoulder to shoulder with Romania and Bulgaria when it comes to further enlargement. He added there were no big differences between Turkey and Croatia. Cornelius stressed that each country would be assessed according to its own merits during the next enlargement round.
The head of a joint EU-Croatia Committee in the European Parliament in Brussels, Pal Schmitt, hailed the Vienna conference and added the conference was aimed at supporting Croatia on its path to the EU.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry Chief State Secretary, Johannes Kyrle, said Croatia invested efforts in joining the EU and stressed the importance of setting the EU entry talks date for Croatia at the European Council summit on December 17.
The head of the OSCE Mission in Croatia, Peter Semneby, said Croatia needed to work on the return of refugees, restitution of their property, justice reform, corruption prevention and freedom of the media.
Commenting on the Vienna conference, Grabar Kitarovic said she was encouraged with the general conclusion that Croatia HAD made significant progress over the past several months, even though there was still a lot more to be done.
She said it was great that Austria, as Croatia's true friend, had organised the meeting.
The Croatian minister said she received the same support last week in France. People are interested and they are becoming more and more aware that Croatia is a stable country with large potentials and that it pays off to start a business or create structures aimed at supporting the interests we will be sharing in the EU, Kitarovic said in Vienna.
The Vienna conference, held on December 5,6 and 7, was organised by the European Alpbach Forum, the Austrian federal chamber of commerce, the institute for the Danube and central Europe, and the Austrian-Croatia Society in Vienna.