ROME, July 7 (Hina) - Italy wants Croatia to join the European Union as soon as possible, and the issue of indemnifying Italians who fled Croatia after World War II, known as "esuli", will not affect Rome's position on Croatia's
joining the EU, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said.
ROME, July 7 (Hina) - Italy wants Croatia to join the European Union
as soon as possible, and the issue of indemnifying Italians who fled
Croatia after World War II, known as "esuli", will not affect Rome's
position on Croatia's joining the EU, Italian Foreign Minister
Franco Frattini has said. #L#
"I want Croatia's application for EU membership to be accepted as
soon as possible," Frattini said after recent talks with EU foreign
affairs commissioner Chris Patten and EU enlargement commissioner
Guenther Verheugen.
In response to an Italian reporter's question whether negotiations
with Croatia regarding the "esuli" issue could affect Rome's stand
on Croatia's joining the EU, Frattini said those were two separate
issues.
"The issue of Italian esuli will not affect the negotiations on
Croatia's drawing closer to the European Union," Frattini said.
The Italian minister said his country would soon organise a meeting
of foreign ministers from western Balkan countries.
(hina) it sb