ZAGREB, July 16 (Hina) - The visiting delegation of the Irish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday attended a two-hour session of the Croatian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and met representatives of
parliamentary opposition parties.
ZAGREB, July 16 (Hina) - The visiting delegation of the Irish
Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday attended a
two-hour session of the Croatian Parliament's Foreign Affairs
Committee and met representatives of parliamentary opposition
parties. #L#
Welcoming the Irish guests at the special session of the Foreign
Affairs Committee, Parliament president Zdravko Tomac stressed the
importance of the Irish presidency of the European Union as of 1
January 2004 because at that time Croatia hoped to become an
official candidate for EU membership.
The chairman of the Irish Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Woods,
said that Ireland had gained a lot from the EU membership. We
started off with a lot of political and economic problems, and in
the Union we were given a platform for development, a stability in
agriculture and a chance to appear on new markets, he added.
Ivo Sanader, deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and
leader of the strongest opposition party, the Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ), said there was a broad consensus in the country and
among the parties that Croatia should join the EU.
Announcing that the next parliamentary elections would be held
soon, Sanader said that his party was reformed, consolidated and
ready to return to power.
The Irish delegation then held separate talks with opposition
leaders Zeljko Glavan of the Social Liberal Party (HSLS), Anto
Djapic of the Party of Rights (HSP), Mate Granic of the Democratic
Centre (DC) and Ivic Pasalic of the Croatian Bloc (HB).
The opposition officials talked of problems in the country and ways
of resolving them.
Djapic said that the economic and social requirements for EU
membership were "a piece of cake" for Croatia compared to the
political requirements.
"We often have a case of double standards being applied because some
countries of the Union want to impose their interests here in an
unacceptable manner," he said, naming Britain and the Netherlands
as countries that cause most of the problems.
The HSP leader said his party found unacceptable the indictments
issued by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague which accuse
Croatia of aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina and the ethnic
cleansing of Serbs in Croatia.
Pasalic said that no one was asking whether Croatia should join the
EU or not, but rather how, when and at what price. He expressed
regrets that Croatia was formally and politically integrated into
the Western Balkans.
Glavan spoke of problems relating to the process of privatisation,
accusing the government of selling national property to foreign
companies on a massive scale.
The Irish parliamentarians welcomed the consensus between the
government and the opposition on joining the EU and reiterated
their support for it.
(hina) vm sb