STRASBOURG, May 15 (Hina) - France supports and is interested in Croatia's admission to the EU, its minister for European affairs, Noelle Lenoir, said in Strasbourg on Thursday during talks with Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino
Picula.
STRASBOURG, May 15 (Hina) - France supports and is interested in
Croatia's admission to the EU, its minister for European affairs,
Noelle Lenoir, said in Strasbourg on Thursday during talks with
Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula. #L#
Picula is in Strasbourg attending the 112th conference of the
Council of Europe's Ministerial Committee.
France has been very pleased to see Croatia's candidacy for EU
membership because it is a country which kick-started a process of
reforms which has yielded very positive results, as confirmed by
the European Commission (EC), said Lenoir.
Picula said France had been the initiator of the 2000 Zagreb Summit,
and that interest in this process was ongoing.
"We have agreed to keep France well-informed as to what Croatia is
doing so that in some way (France) might represent our interests in
Brussels," said Picula.
Lenoir stressed the importance of reinforcing the rule-of-law and
the constant improvement of the justice system until it reached the
level which guaranteed legal security and the respect of human
rights.
The French minister said this was a problem faced by all European
countries.
Picula said today's talks also addressed issues noted in the second
EC report on the progress of the Stabilisation and Association
Process, as well as the main topics of the Strasbourg conference
regarding the fight against organised crime and corruption.
France sees Croatia as having a prominent role in that process
because with its reforms it has proved that transition problems can
be successfully dealt with, said Picula.
The talks also addressed the political and financial efforts the
Croatian government is investing in the return of refugees and
restitution of their property, especially in light of the fact that
only seven percent of funds for it come from foreign sources, while
the rest is Croatian, said Picula.
Picula and Lenoir touched on Croatia's cooperation with the Hague
war crimes tribunal, but according to the Croat, "this topic is no
longer traumatic following (chief prosecutor) Carla Del Ponte's
statement during the recent visit to Croatia that there are no more
open issues in the cooperation".
(hina) ha sb