ZAGREB, May 15 (Hina) - Croatia's initialling of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union is a huge step toward its strategic goal, President Stjepan Mesic said on Tuesday. He nevertheless called for measures
which would alleviate the negative effects Croatia's rapprochement with the EU might have on the country's economy.
ZAGREB, May 15 (Hina) - Croatia's initialling of a Stabilisation
and Association Agreement with the European Union is a huge step
toward its strategic goal, President Stjepan Mesic said on
Tuesday.
He nevertheless called for measures which would alleviate the
negative effects Croatia's rapprochement with the EU might have on
the country's economy. #L#
"Yesterday's initialling of the Stabilisation and Association
Agreement is a major step toward making Croatia's strategic
commitment - EU membership - a reality," reads a statement issued by
the President's Office today.
Croatia initialled the SAA on Monday and is expected to sign it this
autumn.
"That step should certainly be welcomed, but one should also be
aware that it will take a lot of work and time before Croatia enters
the EU."
"In the interim period, it is necessary not only to adjust our
legislation to EU legislation... but also to consider all the
effects the rapprochement with and the subsequent admission to the
EU can have on the national economy. As some of those effects are not
necessarily positive, at least not in the first stage, an important
task would be to prepare and implement measures which will
neutralise... the negative effects of admission to the EU," the
statement reads.
At the same time, Croatia must make the most of the opportunities
which have begun to open up with the initialling of the SAA.
It is important that our insistence on individual approach to the EU
has been accepted and that we will make progress toward European
integration based on our abilities. "In that process, we will
certainly attach great importance to regional cooperation, not as a
precondition but as a necessity and an area in which Croatia can and
wants to exercise its interests," reads the statement.
"The door to Europe has begun to open to Croatia. Let us do all we can
to make it wide open and pass through it because - as I have said on
many occasions - a united Europe is not only our wish but our fate,"
the statement says.
(hina) rml