The date for the start of negotiations which the European Council would not make conditional on anything and which according to announcements should be early 2005 carries special importance not only for Croatia but for the entire Southeast Europe, said a statement signed by the heads of the European People's Party, the umbrella organisation of European Christian Democrat and people's parties, who gathered in Meise near Brussels on Thursday at a traditional meeting ahead of the EU summit.
Also present at the meeting was the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and 13 prime ministers of European countries, of which 10 are EU members.
The prime ministers of the Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, Malta, Slovenia, Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Portugal and Austria voted in favour of the decision to give Croatia an unconditional date for the start of EU entry talks.
According to unofficial sources, at the last EU foreign ministers' meeting the Netherlands and Italy insisted that the start of EU entry talks be made conditional on full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The 25 EU member countries will gather at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to decide about the date for the start of Croatia's negotiations for joining the EU.
All members of the European People's Party believe Croatia has invested a lot of effort and made significant positive steps in meeting the Copenhagen criteria and recommendations of the European Union, including cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the statement said.
We call on EU member countries and European parliamentarians to recognise the enormous value of Croatia's joining the EU and encourage a positive attitude of the public and a favourable political decision of the European Council, the statement said.
Croatian PM Ivo Sanader addressed the European People's Party leaders and asked them to adopt this conclusion. He also thanked the participants for their support.
He added that Croatia still had obligations in meeting the Copenhagen criteria and other political conditions, including cooperation with the ICTY and the solving of the only remaining outstanding issue in that cooperation -- the extradition of fugitive general Ante Gotovina.
On Thursday evening, the EU leaders will discuss the setting of the date for the start of negotiations with Croatia and Turkey. They are to discuss a conclusion, which the Council of Ministers adopted on Monday, that negotiations with Croatia be launched most probably in April, on condition that the country's cooperation with the ICTY be confirmed.