PACK: EUROPE SHOULDN'T HAVE ABANDONED CROATIA IN HARD TIMES

ZAGREB, Dec 15 (Hina) - Croatia will only benefit from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, a European Parliament deputy said in Zagreb on Saturday, adding the SAA should have been reached much sooner and that Europe was responsible for leaving Croatia high and dry when it should have helped. Doris Pack, the head of a parliamentary delegation for South Eastern Europe, held a lecture at Zagreb's Mimara museum on Croatia and Europe in the wake of the signing of the SAA. In attendance, among others, were Croatia's parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic, his deputy Zdravko Tomac, and Mate Granic, the president of the opposition's Democratic Centre and one-time foreign minister. Dismissing some Croatian media reports as entirely unfounded, Pack reminded the European Parliament ratified the SAA unanimously. She said there had been no time for the approval earlier, but conceded such a document could and should have been reached sooner. That was not entirely the Croatian authorities' fault, Europe carries a considerable share of responsibility, said Pack. She maintains that in 1995, instead of freezing relations with Croatia, Europe should have included it in the PHARE programme and monitored its progress. Some executive European politicians were not sufficiently long- sighted and wanted to punish Croatia for something that was justified and to which Croatia was entirely entitled - liberating one third of its occupied territory, said Pack. As for the SAA, although late in coming, it has been signed in time and Croatia has a big chance to become a full-right EU member in a few years, she added. You own your country and if you truly want to join the EU and meet the conditions, we will not prevent but welcome you with arms wide open, said Pack, adding that in geographical terms, it was almost unsustainable to leave the area bordered by Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, and Italy out of the future community. Croatia is economically the most developed of the region's countries and has a promising start which could and should make it a model and generator for the entire region, said Pack. Maintaining the problem is political, she regretted that some MPs in the Croatian parliament had objected to the SAA. Pointing to regional cooperation as a crucial condition in the Agreement, Pack said that each country was evaluated by individual achievements and could not be hostage to any other which was not ready for rapprochement with the EU. Pack maintains that trade among the ex-Yugoslav republics accounts for only 20 percent of the overall balance and as such is unsustainable. How will you cooperate with the EU members if you cannot cooperate with your immediate neighbours, she wondered. Reiterating that regional cooperation was a precondition for stability, Pack said Europe's interest in it was purely practical and "selfish", rather than only altruistic and charitable. Regional instability reflects on the Union, as experienced in hundreds of thousands of refugees, said Pack, adding that in comparison, attempts at helping the region reach stability and progress were much more cost-effective. (hina) ha