DUBLIN DUBLIN, Feb 10 (Hina) - Croatia has made great progress, and if the European Commission gives a positive opinion on its application for European Union membership, Ireland will support a discussion on the application in the
European Council this June, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said after meeting his Croatian counterpart Miomir Zuzul in Dublin on Tuesday.
DUBLIN, Feb 10 (Hina) - Croatia has made great progress, and if the
European Commission gives a positive opinion on its application for
European Union membership, Ireland will support a discussion on the
application in the European Council this June, Irish Foreign Minister
Brian Cowen said after meeting his Croatian counterpart Miomir Zuzul
in Dublin on Tuesday.#L#
Zuzul arrived in Dublin on Monday for a working visit to the Republic
of Ireland, which is holding the presidency of the EU in the first
half of this year. After Dublin, Zuzul will tour London and Berlin.
Croatia has made exceptional progress in the field of the economy and
in the implementation of reforms, and the opinion of the EC on
Croatia's membership application should be announced this spring. In
the case of the positive avis, Ireland will support its consideration
by the European Council in June when a decision on the status of
Croatia's candidacy should be made, Cowen said adding that he and
Zuzul also talked about other important issues, including the return
of refugees, cooperation with the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal
and the situation in the region, which will be analysed by the EC
before it makes its avis public.
We are satisfied with the Croatian government's position on the
above-mentioned issues and we believe that Zagreb is determined in its
intentions to continue along the road to European integration, Cowen
said, adding that Zagreb and Dublin had very good and open dialogue
and very good bilateral relations.
He went on to say that continuation of Croatia's efforts to join the
EU was in the interests of both Zagreb and Brussels.
The Irish minister said that Ireland, in its capacity as the president
of the EU, was determined to see the continuation of building of good
relations between entire south-eastern Europe and the EU, and added
that the western Balkans would remain one of the priorities of
Ireland's presidency of the EU and that his country would work on
implementing the conclusions of the Thessaloniki summit on EU
enlargement by this June.
Our expectations regarding the EU are pretty high and we believe that
through further progress and fulfilment of obligations we shall obtain
the positive avis from the European Commission by March or April, and
the European Council's answer in June, the Croatian foreign minister
said.
We are glad that today we have been given signs of encouragement from
our Irish friends, to whom I explained the Croatian government's
positions and confirmed our absolute resoluteness to meet all the
criteria, Zuzul said, voicing satisfaction with the continuation of
dialogue and good bilateral relations with Ireland.
(Hina) ms sb