BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Hina) - European Commission President Romano Prodi on Monday linked the publication of the European Commission's opinion on Croatia's application for membership in the European Union to the ratification of the
Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the EU by member states that have not yet approved the agreement.
BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Hina) - European Commission President Romano Prodi on
Monday linked the publication of the European Commission's opinion on
Croatia's application for membership in the European Union to the
ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA)
between Croatia and the EU by member states that have not yet approved
the agreement.#L#
There is a common will to do this as soon as the Netherlands and Great
Britain have ratified the SAA, Prodi told a press conference in
Brussels after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
Asked if the European Commission would not publish the avis on Croatia
before the SAA was ratified by the Netherlands, Britain and Italy, the
only three countries that have not done it yet, Prodi said: It is not
an issue that can be solved only legally, and politically it is clear
that you have to have the common will of all members.
Sanader said the ratification was not a condition for the publishment
of the avis. "It is clear to us all that the SAA must be ratified by
those countries that have not done it yet, but that is not a
condition. It would be politically good if this were done before the
avis, but my assessment is that this will not be a condition," Sanader
said.
The question of publication of the avis has never before been linked
to the ratification of the SAA.
The Croatian prime minister said that political action had already
been taken towards the countries that had not ratified the SAA.
Prodi said he appreciated the first steps taken by the Croatian
government towards reconciliation and EU membership.
There are still many issues that need to be resolved, including
cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, borders with
Slovenia, the problem of minorities, but in the long run that will not
slow down our cooperation and will to start negotiations as soon as
possible, Prodi said.
Sanader thanked Prodi for his support to Croatia, saying that the
European Commission and its president welcomed the first steps the
Croatian government had taken with regard to cooperation with the
Hague tribunal, the return of refugees and reforms in the justice
system.
"The Croatian public hopes that the avis will be positive and that we
will be given candidate status, and I am certain that this will happen
if we meet the required criteria," Sanader said.
Asked if the new Croatian government had all the information about the
case of fugitive Croatian Army general Ante Gotovina and if it could
resolve the case in time, because otherwise the lobbying would prove
unsuccessful, Sanader said: "We are firm in our position that any
Croatian government that wishes to realise its ambitious plans must
fulfil all the required criteria, including cooperation with The Hague
and the Gotovina case. We want to cooperate with The Hague, but we
still do not have the information possessed by the previous government
or some other factors in Croatia."
Speaking of relations with Slovenia, Sanader said he did not want to
talk about specific proposals to resolve the outstanding issues
between the two countries before his meeting with Slovene Prime
Minister Anton Rop, which is expected to take place soon.
"I am very pleased with the talks with (Slovene) President Janez
Drnovsek in Berlin last week. We calmed the game down, because we
don't want our relations to escalate. We need to sit down at the
negotiating table in a peaceful atmosphere and see whether the issues
can be resolved bilaterally, because there is always time for
arbitration," Sanader said.
Prodi said the European Commission was very interested in a friendly
solution to the open issues between the two countries.
(Hina) vm sb