Brussels, 05/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday the Croatian Republic's minister for foreign affairs and European integration, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, reaffirmed the unwavering commitment of her country to continuing down the path towards EU accession. Although, as Elmar Brok the president of the Parliamentary foreign affairs committee, underlined, some believe that Croatia is more advanced than other countries that are expected to join soon, MEPs did, nevertheless, insist on several points, such as the return of refugees, respect for minorities and relations between Zagreb and its neighbours, including Slovenia. In an echo to the declarations of the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who evoked the suspension of the enlargement process after the Bulgarian and Romania accessions, to enable the EU to carry out its own institutional reforms (EUROPE 9279), Ms Grabar-Kitarovic declared that, “if we manage to resolve our institutional problems by 2008, there shouldn't be any problems of delays”. Similarly to Grabar-Kitarovic, MEPs insisted that Europe resolved its institutional problems without drawing a link between this and Croatia's accession.
The transformation of the legal system had seen progress and the authorities were committed to fighting corruption, stated Grabar-Kitarovic during her speech in which she expressed her pleasure at the “impressive progress” achieved by Croatia and the EU during negotiations. The screening phase is expected to end on 18 October in compliance with the timetable that had been set out, explained Grabar-Kitarovic, who also said that the chapter on science and technology had already closed on 12 June. She added that “I have confidence in the European project and I have confidence in Croatia in becoming the 28th member of the EU before the end of the decade”. She affirmed that the EU could carry out a debate on institutional adjustments at the same time. Hannes Swoboda (PES, Austria), future EP rapporteur on the report the Commission will be publishing on 8 November on the progress of negotiations with Croatia (and Turkey) said “you are very advanced in a lot of areas, but much remains to be done”. He also agreed that “the thing that counts is proving to citizens that reforms are important” and the work of the EU is to review them “in parallel” with its institutional architecture. His German colleague Bernd Posselt (EPP-ED) also thought that “Croatia should not become a hostage to procedures that we launched ourselves and where the source for these problems is here”. The meeting of Croatians and MEPs adopted a resolution on Wednesday supporting Croatia's ambition of taking part in the EP elections in 2009. “Tackling public opinion is a big challenge” and a pause in the enlargement process would have an impact on popular support but as “the president of the Commission assured us in person, if we do our part of the work, the EU will do its share”. The date is “not an end in itself” but she said that they wanted to be ready in 2009 and the ideal would be an institutional solution for the EU being reached in 2008.
Grabar-Kitarovic, said that “Croatia does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of its neighbours” but “working with all our neighbours in a spirit of integration to resolve open conflicts”. In connection with Slovenia, the minister indicated that with no result in the dialogue being obtained, Croatia had proposed to its next-door neighbour that it take the matter up with an international court to resolve the issue of their maritime borders. She added that the current borders, based on those of the former Yugoslav republics were more or less clear at a terrestrial level but that maritime demarcation had never been set out and “We are continuing to work in a climate of good and friendly relations with Slovenia”.
Ms Grabar-Kitarovic also provided some clarifications on the question of the return of refugees and affirmed that Croatia had respected its international commitments. 125,000 Croatian citizens of Serbian origin had now returned to the county and had resolved the property question: 19,180 houses had been returned to their owners and only 18 still needed to be returned, she explained. (il)