BRUSSELS BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Hina) - Croatia wants to transform from a potential candidate for membership on the European Union into a candidate with potential, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said in Brussels on
Wednesday.
BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Hina) - Croatia wants to transform from a
potential candidate for membership on the European Union into a
candidate with potential, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula
said in Brussels on Wednesday. #L#
"I hope that Croatia will soon become a true candidate based on its
merits and achievements. In other words, Croatia wants to go from
the status of potential candidate into a candidate with potential,"
Picula said in his lecture organised by the European Political
Centre, a reputable think-tank institution, and the King Bodouin
Foundation.
In his lecture attended by representatives of European
institutions and NGOs, diplomats, political analysts, experts and
reporters, Picula relayed Croatian views about EU associations and
the reasons for which Croatia decided to submit an application for
membership in the EU.
"Croatia firmly believes that it is a country which has reached a
level at which its political will and its potentials need a new
challenge and deserve a new chance," Picula said, stressing that
the country's application for EU membership would provide a strong
incentive to internal reforms and that the status of candidate
would secure Croatia stronger mechanisms for the implementation of
these reforms.
"Croatia is grateful for the assistance it is receiving from the
European Commission by way of the CARDS programme," the minister
said, but added that these funds were not sufficient and that the
country needed pre-accession programmes with stronger and faster
effects on the reform processes.
Croatia is aware of obligations it must fulfil and a lot has been
done, primarily with regard to the return of refugees and
cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal, he said.
Croatia also wants to continue regional cooperation with its
neighbours, notwithstanding its status.
"We need a stable and prosperous Bosnia, a stable and prosperous
Serbia and Montenegro, not only for stability reasons, but as great
potential for investments and market," he said.
Asked whether Croatia belonged in the "old" or "new" Europe, as U.S.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld divided the continent alluding
to divisions regarding the Iraqi crisis, Picula said that Zagreb
firmly believed in the need for an honest partnership between
Europe and the United States.
(hina) lml