ZAGREB, May 11 (Hina) - The whole text of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the European Union was harmonised in Zagreb on Friday. Croatia will thus become an associate member and potential candidate
for full-right membership in the EU, Croatia's chief negotiator Neven Mimica and European Commission (EC) representative Reinhard Priebe said. The SAA will be initialled in Brussels on Monday by Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula and EC foreign affairs commissioner Chris Patten. The signing follows in the autumn. "The upcoming signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is of historic importance for us as it represents the first contractual relationship between Croatia and the EU," Mimica said after the last official round of negotiations on the SAA. The negotiations wrapped in less than six months. They formally began in Zagreb last Nov. 24, while the first round was held
ZAGREB, May 11 (Hina) - The whole text of a Stabilisation and
Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the European Union
was harmonised in Zagreb on Friday.
Croatia will thus become an associate member and potential
candidate for full-right membership in the EU, Croatia's chief
negotiator Neven Mimica and European Commission (EC)
representative Reinhard Priebe said.
The SAA will be initialled in Brussels on Monday by Croatian Foreign
Minister Tonino Picula and EC foreign affairs commissioner Chris
Patten. The signing follows in the autumn.
"The upcoming signing of the Stabilisation and Association
Agreement is of historic importance for us as it represents the
first contractual relationship between Croatia and the EU," Mimica
said after the last official round of negotiations on the SAA.
The negotiations wrapped in less than six months. They formally
began in Zagreb last Nov. 24, while the first round was held in
Brussels on Dec. 18.
After being signed, the SAA has to be ratified by the parliaments of
EU's 15 members, the EU and Croatia, a process that will take two
years. A so-called transitional agreement, including the most
important parts of the SAA, namely provisions referring to trade
and transport, will be signed with the SAA and come into force on 1
Jan. 2002.
"In the political sense, the SAA has two very important points...
providing individual rapprochement for countries participating in
the Stabilisation and Association Process, and entering a later
stage of EU enlargement without waiting for the slowest
participants in the Process," said Mimica.
"The other important point refers to regional cooperation in which
Croatia has confirmed its willingness to develop regional
cooperation and (its) influence on the stability of the entire
region, which is part of its foreign policy," he said.
Mimica reminded regional cooperation had been defined as a network
of bilateral contractual relations among countries in the region
and not as the creation of new multilateral structures.
The EC's Priebe said the EU and the international community deemed
both aspects of the SAA equally important.
The SAA will be the chief instrument in stabilising Croatia and the
region, he said, while also determined the conditions of
association and giving Croatia the status of associate member and
potential candidate for membership in the EU.
According to Mimica, the SAA will ensure free access to the EU
market, boost the economy and help solve economic difficulties
through the implementation of necessary reforms and the adjustment
of legislation to EU economic standards.
Priebe said the SAA would represent a form of constitution for
future Croatia-EU cooperation. The implementation of the SAA will
require big efforts from both sides, he added.
"We have to cross the road from potential to actual candidate alone,
we have to use our skills to show that we can be a credible EU
member," said Mimica.
Today's harmonisation of the SAA was welcomed on behalf of the EU
Presidency by Sweden's Ambassador to Croatia Ingemar Borjesson.
He congratulated the Croatian government on the genuinely
impressive headway it made in a little over a year.
(hina) ha