BERLIN/ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Hina) - Addressing a German forum in Berlin on Saturday, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said Croatia bordered on three different regions but was too often identified with Europe's south-east, which he maintained
was unjustifiable and detrimental to both Croatia and Europe.
BERLIN/ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Hina) - Addressing a German forum in Berlin
on Saturday, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said Croatia bordered
on three different regions but was too often identified with
Europe's south-east, which he maintained was unjustifiable and
detrimental to both Croatia and Europe.#L#
Picula was speaking at the German Bertelsmann foundation's third
forum on a Europe without frontiers.
Croatia borders on three very different regions, Central Europe,
the Mediterranean, and Southeast Europe, deriving its cultural,
economic, and political identity from all three, he said.
He added, however, that when the frameworks of a European policy
were considered, Croatia was too often identified with Europe's
south-east for which, he stressed, there was not one valid
justification.
This type of approach robs Croatia of its inherent identity, but
also strips Europe of the real position and role Croatia has in
Europe's overall affairs, Picula said.
Everybody agrees that the expansion of the European Union is a
historic task, but it is also the first big challenge to the very
definition of identity on both sides, those which are within EU
borders and those which yet are not, he said.
Picula believes it is risky to set firm deadlines, but said certain
goals should be placed within a reasonable time-frame. He added the
prospect of admission into the EU and NATO was the best stimulant
for all-round reforms and stability in countries in transition.
Further in his address, the Croatian chief of diplomacy advocated
the highest level of transparency possible in European integration
processes. We have to be certain that when reaching a certain level,
Europe will react in keeping with agreements, he said.
We have to know what rules are, have confidence in them and be aware
of the consequences in both cases, while the process has to be
predictable because predictability leads to security and trust. We
have to be certain that a long-term benefit will follow short-term
or medium-term sacrifices or difficulties, we have to know what we
gain, Picula added.
He also pointed to the need of equal treatment on EU's part of
countries within the stabilisation and association process and
membership candidates, as well as to the need of having a strictly
individual evaluation of a country's achievements in meeting
conditions necessary for admission into the Union.
The biannual Bertelsmann Forum is attended by numerous senior
European officials.
(hina) ha