ZAGREB IN MAY ZAGREB, April 27 (Hina) - Representatives of Croatia and the EU will hold the final round of negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) in Zagreb on May 10 or 11, while the SAA is expected to be
initialled at an EU Council of Ministers session in Brussels on the 14th.
ZAGREB, April 27 (Hina) - Representatives of Croatia and the EU will
hold the final round of negotiations on a Stabilisation and
Association Agreement (SAA) in Zagreb on May 10 or 11, while the SAA
is expected to be initialled at an EU Council of Ministers session
in Brussels on the 14th.#L#
The plan might, however, be slowed down by procedure within the
European Union (EU), Croatia's chief negotiator Neven Mimica said
in Zagreb on Friday.
Speaking to the press after the end of technical negotiations on the
SAA, Mimica said the only part of the Agreement which had not been
harmonised was the political introduction. Croatia wants it to
emphasise that every country's chance of rapprochement with the EU
will be evaluated on an individual basis, he said.
"We would also like the introduction to stress that regional
cooperation refers to a network of bilateral agreements and not the
creation of multilateral relations. We would also like to stress
the way in which Croatia will participate in Europe's joint foreign
and security policy. We are still waiting for the EU's answer to
that," said Mumica.
This week's technical negotiations in Brussels tackled the
liberalisation of import of EU goods to Croatia, EU citizens'
ownership of property in Croatia, and transitional periods
necessary for the adjustment of Croatian to European legislation.
"We discussed a request to expedite the liberalisation of our
market for pasta, chocolate, sweets, biscuits and waffles, ice-
cream, apples, apricots, strawberries, olive oil, oranges and
garlic. We agreed on a certain acceleration of the liberalisation,
as well as on transitional periods (necessary for) the protection
of the most sensitive products. As regards fish, Croatia has
retained higher export quotas, as in the previous period," said
Mimica.
"The whole negotiating package struck a good balance between the
need to protect domestic production and the dynamics necessary to
liberalise the Croatian market in order to reach Europe's economic
standards as soon as possible," he added.
By year's end Croatia will have signed free trade agreements with
some 30 countries, covering 85 percent of Croatia's current trade.
Negotiations are currently in progress with countries
participating in the EFTA and the CEFTA.
Speaking about Croatian property which is owned by EU citizens,
Mimica reminded the Brussels negotiations did not address
liberalising the Croatian real estate market, which is already
open, but ways of facilitating administrative procedure whereby
foreigners acquire the right to purchase property.
"The current principle of reciprocity in this field will be revoked
over a certain transitional period, but the list of real estate
which foreigners will not be able to purchase, like farmland,
cultural heritage, national parks, maritime good, will stay. This
issue will be part of negotiations on full-right membership. Until
then, everything remains as stipulated by Croatian legislation,"
said Mimica.
He added Croatia was obliged to adapt its legislation to European
standards in 31 fields.
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