RACAN: NEW EU ENLARGEMENT ROUND DOESN'T MEAN NEW BORDERS

ATHENS, April 17 (Hina) - The new European Union expansion round does not mean the establishment of new borders, Croatian Premier Ivica Racan said in Athens on Thursday, adding that European leaders fully supported Croatia's admission to the EU. #L# Racan made the statement at a press conference held at the end of a European conference, an informal summit of "wider Europe", which gathered some 40 European leaders in Athens. "It was reiterated once again at the conference that the new expansion of Europe does not mean the establishment of new borders," Racan said. "Borders and divisions are detrimental to Europe. I believe this conference has strongly confirmed the prospect of an integrated Europe," he added. The premier said that he met a number of European state officials who expressed support for Croatia's application for EU membership. Asked whether Croatia had been given assurances that it would join the EU together with Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, Racan said that the topic had been discussed "in previous days and weeks". "Which of the assumed obligations will be fulfilled in the coming months is up to us," he said. Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, who attended the conference alongside Racan, said the message they would bring back from the conference was that "the door to the EU is not closed for Croatia". "Croatia did not sign the admission form in Athens, but it has been given guarantees that it can count on admission to the EU, most certainly by the end of this decade, if it carries out the necessary reforms," Picula said. The informal meeting of "wider Europe" was organised by the EU's Greek Presidency within the signing of agreements on admission by ten future EU members from Central and East Europe, and an informal EU summit. Apart from 15 current and ten future EU members, also invited to the conference were the leaders of countries covered by the Stabilisation and Association Process (Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania), official EU candidates (Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey), and non-EU countries (Switzerland, Norway and Iceland), as well as future EU neighbours (Russia, Ukraine and Moldavia). (hina) rml