Ljubljana, 08/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - Croatia is at serious risk of complicating its EU accession negotiations (which are expected to enter a crucial phase in 2008), if it does not make a rapid u-turn on its decision to unilaterally extend from 1 January 2008 the ecological and fish protection zone to all member states of the EU. This warning was repeated on Tuesday 8 January by the acting president of the Council of the EU, the Slovenian foreign affairs minister, Dimitrij Rupel, and the European commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn (see also the declarations of the president of the European Council, Janez Jansa, in EUROPE yesterday). Addressing a group of European journalists visiting Ljubljana, Mr Rupel affirmed that if Zagreb does not amend this decision as soon as the new government and parliament are in place (which is expected in the next few days), “this would represent a major problem for its accession negotiations”. The current president of the Council of the EU affirmed that this tough line does not change in the slightest the fact that Slovenia is 100%
in favour of Croatia's accession.
Rupel is recommending that Croatia opts for a “multilateral” and “Adriatic approach”, involving the main stakeholders: Italy, Slovenia and the European Commission.
Commissioner Olli Rehn shares the opinion of the presidency, but apparently does not want to rush things. He informed the press at the meeting between the European Commission and the Slovenian government in Ljubljana that “the decision to extend the zone has not yet been enforced and this is essential” (see other article). The commissioner stated that the new Croat government had to “urgently solve this issue before it becomes a problem for accession negotiations”. If this does not happen, the affair would definitely have a “negative” impact on accession discussions, added Mr Rehn. (H.B.)