NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Hina) - The European Commission believes that Croatia is adequately implementing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union and it should not let the problems with sugar export burden
its excellent relations with the EU, European Foreign Affairs' Commissioner Chris Patten said on Thursday.
NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Hina) - The European Commission believes that
Croatia is adequately implementing a Stabilisation and Association
Agreement (SAA) with the European Union and it should not let the
problems with sugar export burden its excellent relations with the
EU, European Foreign Affairs' Commissioner Chris Patten said on
Thursday. #L#
Patten said this in the UN headquarters after the talks with
Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, who is heading a Croatian
delegation at the 57th annual session of the UN General Assembly.
Patten said the Croatian government was closely co-operating with
European Union bodies in shedding light on the issue of sugar export
and a decision on this issue could be expected in the near future.
The issue involves the export of sugar from the IPK Osijek sugar
factory with a mixture of sugar cane which represents the violation
of the SAA.
The problems started in mid July after some EU countries, due to a
suspicion that Croatia was exporting sugar which was not
exclusively Croatia's product, introduced deposits on sugar
export. So far, Germany, Austria, Greece and Italy have taken those
measures.
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