Croatia would bring into the EU not insignificant human resources and well-preserved environmental resources, it would bring back to Europe a part of its cultural, linguistic and artistic heritage and tradition without which Europe cannot be complete, while in return Europe would give it, among other things, a lasting peace, Mesic said in his talk, entitled "Croatia on the path to the European Union", on the second day of his official visit to Lithuania.
For a country that experienced a brutal war, joining the most important peace process in modern history would be its greatest achievement, the Croatian president stressed.
At the start of his talk, Mesic said that Croatia had set itself two "natural foreign policy priorities" -- to join the European Union and NATO.
The Union should quench the thirst for how we imagined democracy, the rule of law and a market economy, while NATO should provide a security framework for such transformation, he said.
I hope that the day will soon come when Croatia will have fulfilled all the necessary requirements and when it will be ready for membership. I would personally like my presidential term, which expires in not so distant 2010, to end with Croatia's accession to the EU, Mesic said in conclusion of his talk.
Mesic later visited Vilnius University where he met Croatian language teachers and students.