PM: No Comment On Slovenian Vote

The voting at the UN General Assembly is secret and that is why it is hard to say who voted and how, PM Sanader said.

Croatian PM Ivo Sanader did not want to comment rumours over Slovenia voting against Croatia’s membership in the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council on Thursday in Lisbon.

“I have heard these rumours, but they are not confirmed. In other words, the voting at the UN General Assembly is secret and that is why is hard to say who voted for whom, and who was the one who did not vote for Croatia in the third round. But let’s forget it, it was such a great victory that there is no need to give a comment about that single vote” Sanader said when arriving at the summit of European Popular Parties (EPP), which took place on Thursday in Lisbon.

The members of the EEP, groups of Christian-democratic and popular parties, traditionally gather notes of each EU summit.

Due to the fact that Croatia was chosen to join the non-permanent membership in the Security Council, Sanader estimated that Zagreb has “a good, international position, the strongest until now”.

We will be in a better position

Several groups will lobby in Croatia, as in other members of the Security Council, in order to have them voting for this or that. About this, just the fact of being a strongly wanted address proves hereof that we will be in a much better position, which will of course have a good influence on our talks with EU and NATO. But, to eliminate any misunderstanding, we will not receive any discount because we will carry out all criteria and all negotiations; but we will be in a significantly different situation than three days ago” Sanader said.

With the membership in the Security Council Croatia will be sitting at the table of the world’s government which makes decisions upon significant issues concerning the peace, security and future of the world” the Croatian PM added.

Sanader said that he is expecting that the question over Kosovo’s final status will be a matter of discussion within the Security Council even before Croatia formally becomes member on January 1. He added that, in case this will be discussed next year, he, as prime minister, will conciliate his position with the Croatian president and that their point of view will be compatible with the European Union’s position.

Also the European Commission on Thursday congratulated Croatia for being elected member of the Security Council. “The European Commission wishes Croatia success in the non permanent members of the UN Security Council’s demanding mission” Krisztina Nagy, spokeswoman of the Enlargement Commission told Hina.

Premier Sanader commented the Slovenian opposition politician Zmago Jelincic’s statement calling Croatians “cattle”, by saying that this belongs to the “anthology of political idiocies”.

“I do not expect PM Janez Jansa to give a comment or apologize in Zmago Jelincic’s name. He, without any rivals, belongs to the anthology of political idiocies in south-east Europe and it does not need to be commented”, Sanader said.

ZERP will start on January 1.

The prime minister said that Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone (ZERP) will start to be effective from January 1 next year, denying having settled a new postponement with the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.

“I am not interested in what is being written. You have heard my statements in Croatia. ZERP will start from January 1” he said.

Eight prime ministers and presidents of the EU countries will take part in the EPP summit: Angela Merkel (Germany), Jan Peter Balkenende (Netherlands), Kostas Karamanlis (Greece), Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxemburg), Lawrence Gonzi (Malta), Janez Jansa (Slovenia), Aigars Kalvitis (Latvia), Traian Basescu (Romania) and Austrian Vice-Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer.

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering will also take part in the summit.

Also Ukrainian President Viktor Juscenko, Georgian President Mihail Saakasvili and the prime ministers of Macedonia and Albania Nikola Gruevski and Sali Berisha will participate next to the Croatian prime minister.

The issue of the EEP summit is the EU reform contract, which should be agreed upon during the EU summit that will start on Thursday night.

Sanader said that one of the subjects was Croatia on Wednesday night at the reunion of the EEP presidency, but for the moment details are not available to journalists.

He highlighted that he expects support from European parties similar to HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union), but that it is more important what Croatian voters will say about it.

“I expect that the EEP leaders will surely be able to say what my government has done in the past four years, but it is more important what Croatian voters will say about it”, premier Sanader said.