BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4518

HR-BULLETINS-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4518 BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4518HINA Zagreb 31 January 2002AUSTRIAN PARLIAMENT'S LOWER HOUSE APPROVES SAAVIENNA, Jan 31 (Hina) - The Austrian parliament's National Council approved Croatia's Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union in Vienna on Thursday afternoon. Austria is the first EU country to have put the ratification of the SAA on its parliamentary agenda. To go into force, the SAA has to be ratified by all EU members. The European Parliament and the Croatian parliament have already done so. To be ratified in Austria, the Agreement has to be approved by parliament's upper house, which is scheduled for Feb. 21, and signed by the head of state. All of Austria's parliamentary parties unanimously okayed the SAA, thus fully supporting Croatia on its path into the European family, they said. Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner stressed the fact that Austria was the first EU state to h