Brussels, 18/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 February, the Council sent out a warning to Croatia, calling on the country to respect its commitments on environmental protection and fishing. If it fails to do so, Croatia's accession negotiations may suffer from this dispute between Zagreb on the one hand, and Italy and Slovenia on the other. In conclusions adopted on Monday, the External Relations Council calls on Croatia to “fully respect the agreement of 4 June 2004 and not to apply any aspect of the ecological and fisheries protection zone to the EU member states until a common agreement in the EU spirit is found”. The Council invites the Commission to “continue its dialogue with the Croatian authorities and report back to the Council”. The ministers will return to this dossier at a forthcoming meeting. (H.B.)