EU REPRESENTATIVES TO VISIT ZAGREB NEXT WEEK

BRUSSELS, Oct 23 (Hina) - The European Union will send its representatives to Zagreb next week and they are to hand the Croatian Government a letter expressing dissatisfaction with the election bill, diplomatic sources in Brussels told Hina on Saturday. The European Troika, accompanied by several representatives from other EU countries, will visit Croatia next week, ahead of a parliamentary debate on the new election draft, scheduled for October 28. Early this week, a director at the European Commission's department for foreign affairs, Fabrizio Barbaso, also visited Zagreb. Along with the election bill, the EU is also dissatisfied with the election date, which falls shortly before Christmas. This is also to be mentioned in the letter to the Croatian Government. The election law and the elections are the absolute priority at the moment, said the director of the section for south-east Europe at the European Commission's foreign affairs department, Gerhard Sabathil, in a statement to a group of Croatian reporters. EC representatives, speaking on condition of anonymity, told this week told Croatian reporters that a consultative working group for Croatia's drawing closer to the EU would be formed most probably only after the elections, whereas the talks on the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association would not start until Croatia started fulfilling conditions stated in the Agreement. (hina) rml