COUNCIL OF EUROPE SHOULD SET FIRM TIME-TABLE OF DUTIES FOR CROATIA

CROATIA $ 'S ACCESSION - EU MINISTERS ZAGREB, May 14 (Hina) - EU Ministerial Council on Monday recommended that the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers "hold an emergency session, before the summer, if possible," at which Croatia's accession to the Council of Europe would be discussed. The Council of Ministers issued a joint statement in which they reiterated support for Croatia's accession, but it held that a firm time-table Croatia had taken on in order to be admitted. The temporary head of the Administration for Political Multilateralism of the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Mladen Andrlic, told Hina that the recommendation of foreign ministers of EU member countries would be discussed by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg on Tuesday and Wednesday. "According to the previous agenda, they should discuss Croatia's accession to the Council of Europe on Wednesday," Andrlic said. At the Committee session, someone will, probably, suggest a way to implement the Council of Ministers' decision, on behalf of the European Union. "If the Committee of Ministers accepts the EU decision, then a firm time-table has to be established regarding duties Croatia accepted," Andrlic said. A part of the duties Croatia took on is common for all countries pending their admittance to the Council of Europe while another is specific for each country. After a firm time-table is set, the Council of Europe may call an emergency session of the Committee of Ministers. Andrlic stressed that there were two sets of reasons for the postponement of Croatia's admission into the Council of Europe. On one hand, there are "tactical approaches of EU member countries. There is no one consensus of EU member countries on the issue on whether and how much Croatia's admission would reflect on the development of events in the region," Andrlic said. "On the other hand, public information services mostly speak of recognized problems which Croatia is trying to resolve in line with the national constitution and the Council of Europe's recommendations," he said. "It is difficult to say which of the two prevailed, but the supposition is that it is the concern for the overall situation in the region, especially as regards further development of events in Bosnia-Herzegovina and peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area," Andrlic said. (hina) lm jn 141823 MET may 96