EUROPEAN INTEGRATION MINISTERS IN PARL. ON CROATIA'S ANSWERS TO EU

ZAGREB, Oct 7 (Hina) - The Croatian government has prepared comprehensive answers to 4,560 EU questions, based on which the European Commission will evaluate Croatia's candidacy for EU membership by April 2004, European Integration Minister Neven Mimica told parliament on Tuesday. #L# The minister said the government had prepared a very detailed summary of all aspects of work and life in Croatia, its state structures, fundamental development policies, ongoing reforms and the level of adjustment of Croatian legislation to EU standards. After the questions were forwarded to the Croatian government in July, 350 experts worked on the preparation of the answers, Mimica said. He recalled that PM Ivica Racan would submit the answers to the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, in Brussels on Thursday. The document would be available to the public on Friday on the ministry's web site, said Mimica. The minister said the document was not made public yet at the request of Brussels, because it was a working document. The Croatian Bloc party requested a parliamentary debate on the document. Speaking on behalf of the party, Ivic Pasalic said it was a disgrace that parliament and its committee for European integration were not included in the debate on the answers that Croatia would forward to the EU. (hina) it