This is a very responsible duty, EC Delegation Ambassador Vincent Degert said in a new EU information centre which he opened earlier in the day with President Stjepan Mesic.
Support for EU membership, which is rather low in Croatia, comes often from the emotional, irrational sphere, Degert said, adding that citizens should be provided with objective information about the EU to avoid any possible disappointment.
"It is our goal to relay to the Croatian public an objective and realistic image of our membership in the EU," PM Sanader said in his address.
The task of the EC Delegation in that mission is not to convince citizens of something that is against their will, Degert said.
"At the end of the process, only citizens who are well informed can make a good decision about Croatia's membership in the EU," Sanader said, recalling that a referendum on EU membership would be organised in Croatia.
He underlined the need to provide information to young people who he said were not sufficiently acquainted with the painful experience of confrontation in Europe and did not know why Europe needed cooperation so much.
Education of the entire society about the EU requires joint action by the government and the EC through a strong network of NGOs, schools, the academic community, media and local authorities, Degert said.
Ilpo Manninen, the Ambassador of Finland, which chairs the EU until the end of December, insisted in his address on the "transparency" and "objectivity" of information relayed to the public by the media.
The government cannot dictate what the media will report about, but it can provide the basic information, which will be complete and unbiased, Manninen said, underlining the role of local authorities in ensuring information about the EU.
There are more than 100 EU information points in Croatia, Sanader said, announcing for early February the introduction of toll-free phone numbers where citizens will be able to obtain more information about the EU.