ADJUSTMENT TO EU STANDARDS INCLUDES PROTECTING ENVIRONMENT - CROATIAN PRESIDENT

PLITVICE LAKES, June 8 (Hina) - The adjustment to European Union standards also demands the precise regulation of all issues regarding the protection of the environment and Croatia lags behind in water and waste management, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said at the Plitvice Lakes on Saturday.#L# Mesic said that at the opening of a meeting of environmental protection ministers and representatives of the environmental protection ministries from Croatian, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Monaco, Slovakia and Romania, being held on the occasion of World Environmental Protection Day, June 5. "Croatia faces a long and complicated process of Euro-integration, but in political terms we don't have an alternative. The adjustment in the process of approaching...demands the precise regulation of all issues regarding environmental protection issues," Mesic said. He reminded that Croatia had signed 50 international conventions and agreements on the regional and global plan, regarding environmental protection issues. Croatia also adopted a national environmental protection strategy which confirms Croatia's wish to meet all criteria in the process of approaching the EU. "Croatia lags behind Europe in water and waste management. The quality of water in Croatia, however, is better than the quality of water in European countries and countries in transition," Mesic said. He said Croatia was oriented towards the concept of sustainable development. In that context, the Croatian President announced his participation in a summit on sustainable development to be held in South Africa's Johannesburg this autumn. The ministerial meeting in Plitvice, held 10 years after the summit on the environment in Rio de Janeiro, was opened by Croatian Environmental Protection Minister Bozo Kovacevic. (hina) it