ZAGREB, March 12 (Hina) - The US-Croatian Charter fully recognises Croatia's Euro-Atlantic integration aspirations and provides a clear prospect for NATO membership, one of Croatia's two chief foreign policy goals, said the Croatian
co-ordinator for NATO and MAP, Zoran Milanovic, in a statement forwarded to Hina by the foreign ministry. The ministry commented on criticisms against the charter in part of the Croatian media.
ZAGREB, March 12 (Hina) - The US-Croatian Charter fully recognises
Croatia's Euro-Atlantic integration aspirations and provides a
clear prospect for NATO membership, one of Croatia's two chief
foreign policy goals, said the Croatian co-ordinator for NATO and
MAP, Zoran Milanovic, in a statement forwarded to Hina by the
foreign ministry. The ministry commented on criticisms against the
charter in part of the Croatian media. #L#
Milanovic said the process of drawing up "the charter on
partnership between the United States and Albania, Croatia and
Macedonia" had begun ahead of a NATO summit in Prague late last
year, according to the model of the Baltic Charter which the US
signed in early 1998 with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"We believe it to be useful and right for Croatia. We believe that it
promotes our interests and recognises us as a mature country ready
to cooperate with countries which share the same goals, independent
of the degree of both economic and social development.
Heterogeneity in this case is not a handicap, as it was not in the
case of the Vilnius Group," said Milanovic. He stressed that the
charter was about "solidarity in appearance, but also
individuality in the final approach (to NATO)".
Milanovic said Croatia had not been "tricked" by anybody, and the
charter was not an inter-state agreement resulting in direct rights
and obligations, but primarily a signpost on the road to NATO.
The charter is not the basis for Croatia's cooperation with Albania
and Macedonia to become institutionalised, and the existing
regional cooperation will be conducted on the same foundations as
hitherto -- bilaterally and multilaterally.
The charter, contrary to some media reports, "does not formalise
military cooperation among the three countries," he added.
Regarding reports that instead of with Tirana and Skoplje Croatia
should insist on military cooperation with neighbours, such as
Slovenia and Hungary, Milanovic said that such cooperation had
already existed for a long time and even exceeded the cooperation
with Albania and Macedonia.
Croatia's entry into NATO will in the end not be assessed through a
spectre of military cooperation, or exclusively based on an
evaluation of the strength and readiness of the Croatian army, but,
as on the path towards the EU, based on the adoption of basic common
values, he said.
(hina) lml sb