ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - Croatia decided to apply for membership in the European Union because its achievements made it possible and it hopes the EU will positively assess the application and grant it the status of an official
candidate, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said for Saturday's issue of Le Monde daily.
ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - Croatia decided to apply for membership in
the European Union because its achievements made it possible and it
hopes the EU will positively assess the application and grant it the
status of an official candidate, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic
said for Saturday's issue of Le Monde daily. #L#
"At a time of the Union's historical expansion, Croatia has
resolutely expressed its desire to weave its future into the
community of European nations with which it shares the values of
united Europe, based on democracy, law, tolerance and free
enterprise. Croatia has set the year 2007 as its objective," the
president wrote in the Horizons Debats section.
In the meantime, Mesic said, Croatia would continue adjusting its
institutions, economy and society to EU standards.
He recalled that in 1990 the level of Croatia's economic
development had placed the country along with Slovenia at the head
of transition countries capable of integrating into the EU. Those
aspirations were "harshly delayed for some time by the war that we
were faced with in 1991", Mesic said. In the meantime, weapons have
been replaced by normal relations, paving the way to reconciliation
with Serbia and Montenegro, as well as to reconstruction and co-
operation," Mesic stressed.
The decisive factor in that process is the return of about 300,000
refugees, including 100,000 Serbs, Mesic said, adding that Croatia
was investing huge efforts to reconstruct the homes of all Croatian
citizens.
"Confident that just and lasting reconciliation is necessary, we
have been cooperating fully with the International Criminal
Tribunal in The Hague. We believe that all those indicted for war
crimes - even if they are soldiers who defended the country - must be
brought to justice so that personal responsibility can be
established and collective guilt avoided," Mesic says.
The president also believes that Croatia has caught up with most
future EU members and points out that the annual per capita income
exceeds 5,000 euros, that the economic growth rate is 5% and the
inflation rate below 3%.
In addition to the trade front, where Croatia closely co-operates
with the EU, which accounts for two-thirds of its foreign trade,
progress is also evident on the political front with regard to the
fulfilment of conditions set in Copenhagen.
Mesic reminds Le Monde readers about France's and its president
Jacques Chirac's important role in the drawing closer to the EU of
Croatia and other countries in the region in the process initiated
at the Zagreb Summit in November 2000.
Mesic is confident that Croatia's candidacy will encourage
countries in southeast Europe - Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and
Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina - and help them find the will to
continue with reforms. Being aware that this is of general benefit
for the entire region, Croatia will continue to strengthen co-
operation with those countries, thus facilitating their economic
revival and the normalisation of the political situation.
"What we expect of the Union is to examine our application and
assess our determination before granting us the status of an
official candidate. Everything else is up to us," Mesic concludes.
(hina) sp rml sb