ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The Croatian government will propose to parliament to declare a protected ecological and fishing zone in the Adriatic Sea, Prime Minister Ivica Racan told reporters on Thursday after a closed session of the
government.
ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The Croatian government will propose to
parliament to declare a protected ecological and fishing zone in
the Adriatic Sea, Prime Minister Ivica Racan told reporters on
Thursday after a closed session of the government. #L#
"With this decision, Croatia will declare all relevant functions of
an economic zone," Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic said.
Racan said that the government proposed declaration of functions of
the economic zone that refer to the country's sovereign right to
exploration and exploitation, preservation and management of
living and natural resources beyond the borders of territorial
waters, and jurisdiction over scientific research of the sea and
protection and preservation of the marine environment.
The government will submit the proposal to parliament on Friday,
and if adopted, the decision will take effect one year after its
proclamation.
The proposal was adopted with a large majority of votes and two
abstentions, but the prime minister declined to reveal who had
abstained.
Racan expressed confidence that the ruling coalition would reach
consensus on the decision, adding that he hoped the Peasant Party
(HSS) of Zlatko Tomcic would follow this line.
The prime minister said the government was aware of the delicacy of
the situation in which the decision was made, and that it took into
account expectations of the Croatian public, resistance from the
neighbours, and warnings from the European Union.
"The government wanted to show determination. It wanted to protect
our fishing and environmental interests in the Adriatic, aware that
declaration of an exclusive economic zone would be a precedent in
the Mediterranean," Racan said.
"Our proposal to set up a protected ecological and fishing zone
relies on some other precedents in the Mediterranean, such as
Spain's fishing zone and France's ecological zone," he added.
The prime minister estimated that it would be easier for Croatia to
defend a decision to establish a protected ecological and fishing
zone without damaging its strategic national interest -- entry into
the European Union.
He admitted that this move might cause problems for the country, but
said he was confident that the proposal created enough space for the
government to defend the move successfully.
Simonovic said that the application of the decision would be
delayed to gain the necessary time for legal and technical
preparations and for responding to the objections that Croatia made
the decision before the Venice conference, where the European
fishing policy is to be defined.
Even if the decisions adopted at the Venice conference are
different from the Croatian decision, Croatia will not cancel its
decision automatically, Racan said.
"Legally speaking, the Venice conference will adopt a political
declaration, while we are dealing with a new legal regime,"
Simonovic said.
Racan said that Croatia could have expanded its jurisdiction in the
Adriatic earlier, "but that did not happen, which is probably no
coincidence."
He recalled that this had not been done either by the former
Yugoslav federation or by the government of the late President,
Franjo Tudjman, "when it was easier to do, because the country was
isolated."
"It will be important to show and prove that the zone will in no way
be an obstacle or obstruction to those passing through it," Racan
said, adding that Croatia was offering other countries cooperation
in the protection of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
(hina) vm sb