PRODI: EC CANNOT EVALUATE COOPERATION WITH ICTY

ZAGREB, July 10 (Hina) - The European Commission cannot judge if a country co-operates with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, that can be done only by the tribunal and the U.N., however, cooperation with the tribunal can speed up admission into the European Union, European Commission President Romano Prodi said at talks with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic in Zagreb on Thursday. #L# It is clear that the EC cannot judge if a country is co-operating with the tribunal and how good that cooperation is. This should be done by the U.N. or the tribunal, Prodi said, adding that he only reminded the Croatian president about the importance of that issue. Prodi said he would be satisfied if the cooperation was good, as it would speed up the country's integration in the EU. The EC president met President Mesic at the beginning of his day- long visit to Croatia. He is also expected to meet the parliament president, address MPs, and meet PM Ivica Racan. Prodi will hand Racan a questionnaire with some 2,500 questions which Croatia will have to answer within three months. On the basis of Croatia's answers, the EC will draw up its opinion on the country's application for EU membership, which will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers, which decides about candidate status and the start of negotiations on full membership. President Mesic said that it was important that the EC president had come personally to explain the questions which Croatia should answer. "These questions are not a test, this is not a school-leaving examination, but the beginning of cooperation with the EU," Mesic said. The president said that Prodi had promised the EU's full cooperation in the process of answering the questions. "We expect to meet all requirements within the set deadlines and become an official candidate for admission to the EU," Mesic said. He added that the talks also addressed issues which were particularly important to Croatia, methods of drawing up the answers, regional cooperation, cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal, refugee return and property repossession, the functioning of the rule of law and the judicial reform. Prodi said he wanted Croatia to be welcomed in the EU as soon as possible. Every country will be evaluated according to its achievements, but regional cooperation can speed up the whole process and enable the EU to adopt a coherent policy towards the region, Prodi said. It is up to Croatia to decide when that will happen, he added. There is readiness on both sides and the EU expects Croatia to set an example for western Balkan countries, Prodi said. (hina) rml