SIMONOVIC ON ECONOMIC ZONE

ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - The Croatian working group monitoring the EU fishing policy will soon submit a report to the government that will contain an assessment of possible damage in case Croatia declares an economic zone in the Adriatic, Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic announced on Thursday after informing the government of the results of a preparatory meeting in Brussels ahead of a ministerial conference in Venice. #L# Simonovic did not specify when the report would be submitted, but said that efforts would be made to compile it as soon as possible. The report will analyse the situation and messages, including those from the European Commission, and will present advantages and disadvantages of expanding jurisdiction in the Adriatic, Simonovic told reporters. Prime Minister Ivica Racan has said that the parliament was expected to discuss a government report on Croatia's plan to expand its jurisdiction in the Adriatic before it is dissolved for elections. Simonovic said he did not agree with assessments that Croatia's position regarding the matter was poor. "There's no need to be so pessimistic. Croatia has a choice. It won't be easy, but sovereign states make difficult choices in difficult situations," the deputy foreign minister said. He reiterated that the right of countries to declare an economic zone was not questionable, but added that there would be less possibility for expanding jurisdiction after the Venice conference in late November. "It has become evident that Venice won't bring any legal change (...) but the tendency will be to narrow the space for expanding jurisdiction in the Mediterranean," Simonovic said. Simonovic said that the Croatian position was neither accepted nor rejected in formal documents, but that the European Commission said that Croatia should wait for the Venice conference and should reach agreement on the matter with other countries. He said that the solution advocated by Slovenia, that the Adriatic should be declared a joint protected zone, did not exist in international legal practice. This cannot be acceptable to Croatia, because it would increase the number of users of the zone, and Croatia would be confronted with a fishing fleet ten times bigger than its own, Simonovic said. Simonovic could not foresee possible political problems in the event of Croatia proclaiming an economic zone without prior agreement with its neighbours. (hina) vm