EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES TWO AGREEMENTS WITH CROATIA

STRASBOURG, Dec 12 (Hina) - The European Parliament approved a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and an Interim Agreement with Croatia, which were signed in late October, at a plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday.#L# Both documents were okayed by a majority vote and without a debate. The Interim Agreement, which covers trade issues contained in the SAA, has yet to be ratified by the European Union Council of Ministers at its first next session in January. The Agreement is expected to formally go into force on March 1 but will start being implemented as early as Jan. 1. The SAA, which the Croatian parliament ratified last week, now has to be approved by the parliaments of the 15 EU members, which may take two years, or one in the best of cases. "We are very satisfied with how rapidly the European Parliament approved the SAA and the Interim Agreement, as well as with the large support of the representatives," Vladimir Drobnjak, the head of the Croatian delegation to the EU, told Hina. The Croatia-EU SAA is the first to be ratified in the European Parliament. The SAA with Macedonia, signed before the one with Croatia, has not been ratified yet owing to the political crisis and instability in the southern Balkan state. (hina) ha