PRESENT, FUTURE PMS BELIEVE CROATIA WILL GAIN EU CANDIDATE STATUS IN NEXT FEW MONTHS

ZAGREB, Dec 16 (Hina) - Croatia's outgoing Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, and Premier-designate Ivo Sanader are confident Croatia will gain the status of an EU candidate within the next several months and that this will be a common objective of both the government and the opposition.#L# Before a lunch in the government's building on Tuesday, during which they will discuss the transfer of authority and government work, Sanader and Racan said the new government and the opposition had reached a consensus on Croatia's joining the EU and improving the living standards of its citizens. "I am an optimist and believe that in the next few months, which will be of historic importance for Croatia, we will gain the status of an EU candidate and that is our most important task in the next six months, along with the improvement of living standards of all Croatian citizens," said Sanader, adding that the consensus on major political issues was encouraging. Racan said he expected the European Commission to adopt a positive opinion about Croatia's membership application. "The incumbent government absolutely deserves credit for that," said Racan, adding that the new government and all political forces which considered integration into the EU Croatia's strategic interest, would have to decide when the country would start accession negotiations and at which pace they would be conducted. Both Sanader and Racan agree that the recent elections were organised in a democratic way and that the transfer of authority was being carried out in the same way, which they said bore witness to the fact that Croatia was a country promoting European democratic standards. Today's meeting, they said, was additional proof that the cooperation and dialogue continued. (Hina) it sb