ZAGREB, May 1 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader took part in Dublin on Saturday in a summit of European Union prime ministers who are members of the European People's Party (EPP), the Croatian Foreign Ministry said in a
press release.
ZAGREB, May 1 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader took part in
Dublin on Saturday in a summit of European Union prime ministers who
are members of the European People's Party (EPP), the Croatian Foreign
Ministry said in a press release.#L#
The summit addressed issues regarding the EU Constitution,
decision-making in the expanded EU, and European Commission
presidential candidates.
EPP president Wilfried Martens congratulated the 10 countries which
joined the EU today on their admission and Sanader on the recent
positive opinion on Croatia's membership application.
Sanader thanked the EU prime ministers for their support and voiced
hope the European Council would decide at its session on June 17-18
about Croatia's candidate status and the start of negotiations with
the Union.
While in Dublin Sanader held talks with two future EU chairmen, Dutch
PM Jan-Peter Balkenende and Luxembourg's PM Jean-Claude Juncker. The
Croat thanked Balkenende for the completion of the Netherlands'
ratification of Croatia's Stabilisation and Association Agreement with
the EU and invited him to Croatia.
Seeking support for Croatia Sanader also held talks with his
counterparts Kostas Karamanlis of Greece, Jose Manuel Durao Barros of
Portugal, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Juhan Parts of Estonia and
Lawrence Gonzi of Malta.
The Croatian PM also met his Serbian counterpart Vojislav Kostunica.
They agreed the positive opinion Croatia obtained for its EU
membership application was important also for every other country in
the region.
(Hina) ha