SLOVENE MINISTER: EU TO ADOPT DECLARATION ON CROATIA

ROME/LJUBLJANA, Oct 6 (Hina) - European Union foreign ministers, who will meet in Luxembourg on 13 and 14 October, will draft a joint declaration assessing the situation after Croatia's proclamation of a protected fishing and ecological zone in the Adriatic Sea a few days ago. The EU ministers will propose models to address the issue, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and his Slovene counterpart Dimitrij Rupel said after a meeting in Rome on Monday. #L# Rupel was quoted by the Slovene news agency STA as saying that his country and Italy share "the same views" with regard to the protected ecological and fishing zone. "We have agreed that EU foreign ministers will next week adopt a statement in Luxembourg recommending that Croatia should respect the principle of multilaterality and commit itself to European cooperation criteria," Rupel said after the Rome meeting. He added that a policy of inclusion rather than one of exclusion should prevail in the Adriatic. The Slovene minister said that all the issues regarding the Adriatic Sea would be discussed at a special subregional forum, consisting of representatives of Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece. The forum is likely to be set up in coming weeks and will include experts from several fields and officials of the ministries of environmental protection, agriculture, fishing, maritime affairs and transport. The forum should start working after a ministerial conference on protection of the Mediterranean, set for late November in Venice. The conference will be organised by the European Commission and Italy which is currently holding the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. (hina) ms sb