On the second day of their meeting, EPP-ED parliamentarians reiterated their support the Croatian Government's plans for the admission of Croatia to the European Union in 2009.
Participants in the two-day event said that Croatia must not be a hostage of other southeastern European countries, given that Croatia is the most developed country in the region, a standard-bearer as well the guarantee for the stability of southeastern Europe.
During a debate on the stability of southeast Europe, the chairman of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, once again encouraged the Ivo Sanader Cabinet to persist in the ongoing reforms.
Croatia's progress on this path is encouraging and the country is well under way for the fulfilment of its commitments, he added.
EPP-ED members expressed conviction that Croatia would enter the European Union soon after Bulgaria and Romania.
The head of the EP commission for Southeast European countries, Doris Pack, expressed hope that Montenegro would vote for its independence at the referendum scheduled for 21 May.
If this does not happen, Montenegro will remain a hostage of Serbia with which the Union suspended negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, Pack told reporters on the margins of the Split meeting.
In this context Pack accused the EU and Javier Solana, the High Commissioner for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, of having obstructed Montenegro three years ago in gaining independence.
Pack stressed that regional cooperation did not mean the re-establishment of Yugoslavia, wondering, if the countries in the region could not cooperate now, how would they when they entered the Union.
EPP-ED parliamentarians also discussed solutions for Kosovo's final status and problems of organised crime.