Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic met with the European Parliament Rapporteur on Croatia, Libor Roucek, in Zagreb on Thursday to discuss the remaining obligations which Croatia should meet in the run-up to its admission to the European Union, set for 1 July 2013.
The Croatian minister emphasised that "the enlargement policy is vital for the stability of this region", according to a press release issued by her ministry.
The process of negotiations is a tool for building state institutions and this is the biggest value of the negotiations, Pusic was quoted as saying.
She also informed this Czech MEP that 19 of the 27 EU member states had so far ratified Croatia's accession treaty with the EU, and that two more countries would follow their suit by the end of this year.
Roucek was interested in Croatia's bilateral relations with Slovenia and Pusic informed him about the activities of the two financial experts appointed by Zagreb and Ljubljana to deal with the Ljubljanska Banka issue and on this occasion she stressed that the process of ratification of Croatia's EU treaty in the Slovenian parliament should be separated from the bilateral issue of the now defunct Ljubljanska Banka.
Roucek was quoted as saying that he shared Pusic's view on the enlargement policy and added that Europe would not be whole without the integration of all countries from this region, which was why it was important to continue the enlargement process.
Roucek informed Pusic about a plan for the adoption of a new report on Croatia in the European Parliament.
