ZAGREB, Jan 26 (Hina) - Presidential candidate Drazen Budisa on Wednesday said his meeting with European Union ambassadors in Zagreb confirmed that the international community was ready to help Croatia following the recent change of
authority. "The European Union, Europe and the world are now offering their hand to Croatia and that opportunity should be used. I believe we will manage to do it," Budisa told reporters after a two-and-a-half-hour lunch with EU ambassadors at Zagreb's Writers' Club. EU ambassadors will on Thursday meet the other presidential candidate, Stipe Mesic, for a working lunch. Budisa said he had told the ambassadors his priorities in foreign policy were Croatia's admission to the Partnership for Peace, NATO, and the transfer from the last into the first group of countries waiting for admission to the EU. "The meeting was also useful because one could conclude that once Croatia fulfils ce
ZAGREB, Jan 26 (Hina) - Presidential candidate Drazen Budisa on
Wednesday said his meeting with European Union ambassadors in
Zagreb confirmed that the international community was ready to help
Croatia following the recent change of authority.
"The European Union, Europe and the world are now offering their
hand to Croatia and that opportunity should be used. I believe we
will manage to do it," Budisa told reporters after a two-and-a-
half-hour lunch with EU ambassadors at Zagreb's Writers' Club.
EU ambassadors will on Thursday meet the other presidential
candidate, Stipe Mesic, for a working lunch.
Budisa said he had told the ambassadors his priorities in foreign
policy were Croatia's admission to the Partnership for Peace, NATO,
and the transfer from the last into the first group of countries
waiting for admission to the EU.
"The meeting was also useful because one could conclude that once
Croatia fulfils certain obligations that it had taken over, it can
expect much more help from the European Union, primarily in the
process of reconstruction... and the help given so far has not been
sufficient."
The EU, said Budisa, requests that certain legal provisions be
changed as a precondition for increasing its assistance. Budisa
confirmed those provisions referred to the allocation of
reconstruction assistance which the EU believed were
discriminatory.
The meeting with the EU ambassadors was useful, comprehensive and
pleasant, he said.
(hina) mm rml