Brussels, 19/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - Meeting for its plenary session in Brussels on 13 October (see EUROPE 9046), the Committee of the Regions adopted the opinion of the president of the EPP group, Isidoro Gottardo (Italy) on "The European Partnership with Croatia". In so doing, the CoR: -stresses the need to reinforce Croatia's regional and local administrative capacity throughout negotiations; -calls for forms of cooperation or twinning to be set up, including between the Croatian regional and local administrations and those of the Member States of the EU. On the decentralisation planks, the Committee calls for the implementation of the principle of subsidiarity, and voiced its concern at the absence of financial own resources allocated to the organisations and the absence of the necessary autonomy to levy taxes, "which are fundamental elements of a genuine process of decentralisation", as Mr Gottardo put it in his opinion. Lastly, the CoR: -encourages the Croatian counties to continue their active policy in favour of the stabilisation of the region, via cross-border cooperation and the construction of Euro-regions; -again stresses the need "to follow up on demands for tangible progress in terms of minority rights, the policy of repatriating refugees, non-discrimination in terms of the acquisition of real estate by Community citizens and justice reforms". "The Croatian political willingness to be part of the EU is sincere; it is Croatia's natural vocation to accede to the EU", President Gottardo told the plenary.