The president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Vesna Pusic, received the news about the launching of membership talks with enthusiasm, stressing that her party had been advocating Croatia's joining the EU since the early 1990s.
Despite her enthusiasm, Pusic said that Croatia needs to complete a painstaking job which would pay off at the end.
The president of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Zltako Tomcic, is also satisfied with the decision on the launching of Croatia's EU membership talks. "This is good news after a long period of uneasiness and uncertainty," Tomcic said.
He warned that Croatia must seriously prepare itself for the negotiations, define its negotiating standpoints, what it aspired to achieve and how it wants to join the EU.
Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) vice president Damir Kajin expressed satisfaction with the fact that the start of the negotiations meant that Croatia "is definitely leaving the Balkan Express". "Croatia cannot escape from the Balkans geographically, but this is definitely the separation from the Balkans in the political sense," he said.
The IDS official said, however, that Croatia had a lot of problems, from the situation in the judiciary which must undergo reforms to economic problems. He said that a change in mind-set was necessary.
The president of the Democratic Centre (DC), Vesna Skare Ozbolt, said the start of the negotiations with the EU was a great success and one of the most important dates in Croatia's recent history. "However, one must not be euphoric about it but use the situation in order to show that we really are Europe," Skare Ozbolt said adding that special attention in the negotiations must be attached to the economy, agriculture and real-estate market.
(to be continued...)