ZAGREB, March 24 (Hina) - The European Parliament supports Croatia's application for membership in the European Union and calls on Zagreb to meet the Copenhagen criteria and cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague,
the head of the Parliament's committee on relations with South-East European countries, Doris Pack, said on Monday.
ZAGREB, March 24 (Hina) - The European Parliament supports
Croatia's application for membership in the European Union and
calls on Zagreb to meet the Copenhagen criteria and cooperate with
the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the head of the
Parliament's committee on relations with South-East European
countries, Doris Pack, said on Monday. #L#
Pack, who is visiting Croatia at the helm of a delegation of the
European Parliament, made the statement after talks with the
chairman of the Croatian parliament's foreign affairs committee,
Zdravko Tomac.
The European Parliament last week discussed candidates for EU
membership and the only country that was mentioned was Croatia,
Pack said.
Commenting on relations between Croatia and the U.N. tribunal, Pack
said she was acquainted with the situation in the country and
realised that one should distinguish between the war in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and Croatia's Homeland War.
Pack said participants in the talks agreed about the need to
distinguish between the two wars, as well as about the need for the
U.N. tribunal to process persons who had committed crimes during
the Homeland War.
She added that crimes committed in Croatia could not be considered
as ethnic cleansing and described such an approach as wrong.
Pack hoped that this problem would be solved in the best possible
way as it could become a long-term obstacle on Croatia's way towards
the EU.
Apart from cooperation with the U.N. tribunal and Croatia's
application for EU membership, the two delegations also discussed
the international situation in light of the war in Iraq.
(hina) rml sb