ROME, March 11 (Hina) - Italy asked Croatia to help achieve "a fair solution to the problem of fishing in the Adriatic" at Thursday's meeting of officials of Italy, Croatia and Slovenia in the Slovene port of Portoroz.
ROME, March 11 (Hina) - Italy asked Croatia to help achieve "a fair
solution to the problem of fishing in the Adriatic" at Thursday's
meeting of officials of Italy, Croatia and Slovenia in the Slovene
port of Portoroz.#L#
The meeting revolved around protection and exploitation of the
Adriatic sea.
"We reiterated that we opposed the model which Croatia had chosen and
we requested that the proper solution of the problem of fishing be set
as a necessary condition for that country's admission to the European
Union," said the Italian Agriculture Ministry's undersecretary in
charge of fisheries, Paolo Scarpa Bonazza, commenting on the results
of the second tripartite meeting on this matter. Besides Scarpa, the
Italian Foreign Ministry's undersecretary, Roberto Antonione also
attended the Portoroz meeting as an Italian representative.
Scarpa was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as telling reporters
that the Italian Agriculture Ministry supported the harmonisation of
interests in the joint management of the exploitation of the Adriatic
sea by the concerned countries.
The decision on tripartite meetings was made in January so that
solutions for the regime of fishing in the Adriatic could be found
following "the unilateral decision of Croatia on the establishment of
the ecological fishing zone, namely an exclusive economic zone which,
if comes in force, could cause very negative consequences for the
fishing sector in Italy", the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a
statement.
Scarpa said that although the Croatian decision was legitimate from
the point of view of international law, it should be altered in regard
to specific conditions in the Adriatic sea which he described as a
semi-closed sea.
Scarpa said he would like to see the soon establishment of a zone
which would be managed together by Italy, Croatia and Slovenia.
The next tripartite meeting will take part in the Croatian coastal
city of Pula in three weeks.
(Hina) ms