ZAGREB/PARIS, May 15 (Hina) - Croatia is satisfied with the process of rapprochement with the EU but considers it very important to have the individual approach put before the collective approach for countries of Southeast Europe,
Prime Minister Ivica Racan told the Paris-based daily Figaro on Tuesday. "Croatia supports regional cooperation but refuses any joint Balkan fate in the European Union," Racan, who ended a visit to France on Monday, is quoted as saying. Asked what Croatia had done to meet the criteria for accessing the EU, he said the incumbent government had opened Croatia to Europe, was leading a regional cooperation policy, had made the first step towards economic stability and fortified democratic institutions. The minority communities enjoy the biggest freedoms in democratic Europe, he said, adding the government had also committed to settle the refugee and displaced person issue by
ZAGREB/PARIS, May 15 (Hina) - Croatia is satisfied with the process
of rapprochement with the EU but considers it very important to have
the individual approach put before the collective approach for
countries of Southeast Europe, Prime Minister Ivica Racan told the
Paris-based daily Figaro on Tuesday.
"Croatia supports regional cooperation but refuses any joint
Balkan fate in the European Union," Racan, who ended a visit to
France on Monday, is quoted as saying.
Asked what Croatia had done to meet the criteria for accessing the
EU, he said the incumbent government had opened Croatia to Europe,
was leading a regional cooperation policy, had made the first step
towards economic stability and fortified democratic
institutions.
The minority communities enjoy the biggest freedoms in democratic
Europe, he said, adding the government had also committed to settle
the refugee and displaced person issue by the end of next year.
"We are aware one has to submit to EU criteria to become a member,
and we shall do so in the years to come," Racan said.
The Figaro journalist inquired if the opposition's Croatian
Democratic Union party still represented a hurdle to the
democratisation of the country, particularly in light of the need
of Croatia to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague.
Racan said ultra-nationalism was present throughout Europe,
including Croatia, but not in a measure which would pose a serious
threat to the democratisation of the country.
"We waged a defence war against Serbian aggression and that war was
justified," the Croatian prime minister asserted.
During the war some Croats committed war crimes and some have even
been arrested, he said, adding Croatia did not want to be a hostage
to its past.
"We all know this, some important countries had trouble shedding
light on their own (past)," he said.
(hina) ha sb