CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE OPENS

ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Hina) - MPs of 14 Central European Initiative (CEI) member-countries on Monday began a day-long parliamentary conference in Zagreb focusing on common problems. Opening the conference, Croatian parliament president Vlatko Pavletic said the initiative was taken by the first member- countries, led by hope in democracy and integration with Europe, only two days after the fall of the Berlin wall. Croatian MPs warned the European Union (EU) was closing itself from the rest of Europe by setting various obstacles preventing non-EU members from integrating with Europe. The chairman of the Croatian Lower House Finance and Budget Committee, Djuro Njavro, called on the CEI to make efforts aimed at EU's opening to countries of Central and Eastern Europe. "Today numerous political moves and decisions of the EU testify to the fact that it has achieved interior democracy, but also to the fact that it is shutting itself from (the countries) outside," said Njavro. The EU is increasingly less an economic and an increasingly more political union which, as the largest market in the world, sets the rules of the game, he added. "These rules should be a consequence of economic, not political demands," Njavro believes. The CEI is an organisation of 16 Central and Eastern European countries, currently presided by Croatia. It aims at strengthening cooperation among member-countries, facilitating their integration with Europe, and strengthening economic cooperation. The CEI also implements various projects and programmes. (hina) ha mm