GENSCHER ADVOCATES CROATIA'S INTRODUCTION IN CANDIDATES FOR EU

ZAGREB/BERLIN, Oct 27 (Hina) - The new Commission of the European Union has taken a far-seeing and historic decision on initiating negotiations on the admission of Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Malta into the EU, correcting the mistake made by the previous Commission which had introduced a two-class system in talks on the entry into the Union, a former German Foreign Minister, Hans Dietrich Genscher wrote in the Nordsee Zeitung newspaper. This decision is not, of course, perfect, Genscher said adding that one of faults in the new decision is that it fails to include Croatia, as opposed to Slovenia, in the circle of candidates for EU new member-states. The former German minister said Croatia had proven to be a reliable partner and factor of stability during the recent conflict in Kosovo and on other occasions as well. Croatia has positive economic prospects, and they can better develop if this country can enjoy more concrete prospects of entering the EU by initiating negotiations and concluding necessary agreements, he emphasised. Objectively speaking, prospects of future EU membership should stand for all countries-successors to the former Yugoslavia, but this does not mean that the speed of the entire convoy should be determined by the slowest vessel (namely Milosevic-led Serbia), Genscher added. In the case of Slovenia, this has been avoided, and the Commission should do the same for Croatia, he wrote adding that the European Council will have an opportunity of such decision in Helsinki in the end of this year. (hina) jn ms