Notion Of Croatia Accessing EU With Serbia Is Dead

Only pessimists can think like this because the idea of joint accession of Serbia and Croatia has long since been dead, Sanader claims.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said nobody in Brussels was thinking about joint accession of Croatia and Serbia into the EU. Also, speculations that Croatia can expect accession in 2013 are not true either.

As the prime minister said on Nova TV network show “10 do 8”, only very pessimistic people can think like that because the idea of joint accession has long since been dead.

- I am negotiating with the EU during my second mandate and I can say with certainty that this notion is dead and there is nobody in Brussels who believes Croatia and Serbia should access the EU together – the prime minister pointed out.

“We want to develop relations with Serbia according to the principles of European integrations”

At the same time, Sanader looked back on yesterday`s presidential elections in Serbia, saying that he does not fear the radicals winning, i.e. their candidate Tomislav Nikolic, because Croatia wants to develop relations with Serbia in peace according to the principles of European integrations, however the victory of Vojislav Seselj`s party might do much harm for Serbia.

The prime minister added that it is not good for Serbia to be lead by a man whose party has plans of a so called “Great Serbia” in its official documents, when it is well-known half of this territory refers to Croatia. On the other hand, Sanader does not fear because Croatia will soon be invited to NATO, thus, it will have NATO`s protection.

“We don`t need a referendum for NATO”

- If Croatia was in NATO in 1991, The Croatian Homeland War for Independence would never have happened – Sanader pointed out, adding that NATO was one of the topics covered in his meeting with the Croatian President Stjepan Mesic today.

 When asked if the president believes a referendum should be carried out for NATO accession, Sanader replied:

- Mesic and I share the same opinion on the referendum, meaning we don`t need it according to the Constitution, but as far as the EU goes, where we are transferring a part of our independence, it can be carried out – Sanader elaborated.