ZAGREB, March 19 (Hina) - During talks in Brussels, Croatia was encouraged to fulfil conditions in the following year so as to begin negotiations about membership in the EU, Croatian parliament president Zlatko Tomcic said on
Wednesday evening upon wrapping up talks with European parliamentarians in the Belgian capital.
ZAGREB, March 19 (Hina) - During talks in Brussels, Croatia was
encouraged to fulfil conditions in the following year so as to begin
negotiations about membership in the EU, Croatian parliament
president Zlatko Tomcic said on Wednesday evening upon wrapping up
talks with European parliamentarians in the Belgian capital. #L#
"This meeting, as those before it, was in fact a signal of
encouragement to Croatia to fulfil all of its obligations in the
following year. I am personally convinced that in approximately a
year we shall be witnesses to a positive assessment by the European
Commission and that this will be a definite indication that Croatia
will join the group of countries which will access the EU in 2007,"
Tomcic was quoted by Croatian Radio as saying.
Tomcic on Wednesday, accompanied by the heads of parliamentary
committees for foreign affairs and European integrations, Zdravko
Tomac and Mato Granic, visited Brussels, where he met the president
of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, and the head of the European
Parliament's delegation for south-east Europe, Doris Pack.
Cox said that it was important for the European Union to provide a
clear European perspective to countries in the south-east of the
continent. He also believes that in discussing the EU's expansion,
the European parliament must respect differences among potential
partners. Cox stressed that Croatia had achieved excellent results
in implementing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
Cox is the first senior European official to have placed Croatia
alongside Bulgaria and Rumania, candidates for EU membership in
2007. In his recent statement for a Portuguese weekly he voiced hope
that Zagreb could be admitted in the EU in 2007. Last month Croatia
submitted its application to join the Union.
Doris Pack also endorsed Croatia's efforts to join Rumania and
Bulgaria and find itself in the circle of countries which should
enter the EU in 2007.
Most of the people who know Croatia well believe that Croatia could
join the EU together with Rumania and Bulgaria, Pack told Croatian
Radio.
According to Cox, the war in Iraq should not in any way negatively
affect Croatia's bids on its path towards the EU, since, at the time
of decision-making on Croatia, the issue of Iraq should already be a
thing of the past.
(hina) lml