The ambassador said that developments such as those at the gay pride parade in Split on Saturday showed that monitoring was necessary so as to have assurances that the reforms launched by the Croatian government were irreversible and feasible.
She labelled incidents at the parade as violations of fundamental human rights.
The right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental human right and must be available to every citizen with no discrimination because of gender, race or any other difference, she said, adding that it was also important for closing the policy chapter No. 23, "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights", as part of Croatia's EU talks.
The ambassador gave this statement in Karlovac where she was attending a meeting of an advisory council for support programmes to the judicial system, financed by the World Bank.