Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-184"
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"en.20040331.5.3-184"2
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"Mr President, I would like first of all to express my pleasure that things have now got moving in connection with Croatia’s application for membership of the European Union and that there are definite prospects for the opening of negotiations. I can only agree with what Mrs Pack has said and confirm the great efforts Croatia is making to come closer to the European Union.
I have followed developments in Croatia since 1995, first as a delegation chairman and then as chairman of the EU-Slovenia Joint Parliamentary Committee, and have found that steadily increasing efforts have been made in the right direction. Of course, things moved very hesitantly and with great difficulty in the early stages, but eventually they gained momentum. The new government under Ivo Sanader has really advanced by leaps and bounds, especially in policy towards minorities and the coexistence of ethnic groups. I say that as a representative of a minority. The approach taken by the new government, and by the prime minister in particular, calls for our utmost admiration. It could be considered an example for other countries wishing to join the EU and be held up as exemplary in terms of a new intake and new opening between majority populations and minorities of any kind.
Positive considerations have also prevailed as a result of international arbitration in the border disputes or differences of opinion over the border in the Piran Bay. I believe that is the right way when both states have legitimate interests and this question need not therefore be a stumbling block any longer. I would therefore like to thank Mr Baltas for this good report and I hope that the Commission will do what it can to get negotiations started."@en1
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