BRUSSELS, April 24 (Hina) - The new president of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Denmark's former prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, has said he believes that Croatia will soon become a full member of the European Union and
promised Zagreb support on that road.
BRUSSELS, April 24 (Hina) - The new president of the Party of European
Socialists (PES), Denmark's former prime minister Poul Nyrup
Rasmussen, has said he believes that Croatia will soon become a full
member of the European Union and promised Zagreb support on that
road.#L#
I am convinced that Croatia will soon be a full member and I will do
all to help your country on that road, Rasmussen told Croatian
reporters during a congress of the PES in Brussels on Saturday.
Rasmussen was today elected new PES president as successor to
Britain's former foreign minister Robin Cook.
The PES is the second largest party in the European Parliament after
the European People's Party.
A delegation of Croatia's Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by
president Ivica Racan, attended the congress. Deputies at the congress
promoted the SDP from observer status to the status of an associate
member, which is granted to parties from candidate countries.
Racan said he was confident that Croatia would be granted EU candidate
status in two months, but that obtaining a date for the start of
accession talks would be more difficult and depend on several factors,
including the country's conduct.
The SDP leader met a number of European politicians from the PES,
including Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs, the president and
the secretary-general of Italy's Democratic Left, Massimo D'Alemo and
Piero Fassino, the head of the PES faction in the European Parliament,
Enrique Baron Crespo, and the former and new PES presidents, Robin
Cook and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.
Racan said he received congratulations from the officials on the job
his government had done to obtain a positive avis from the EC.
(Hina) rml