German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Sunday that during her visit to Croatia on Monday she would talk about the strengthening of bilateral economic ties and call for pursuing the work on accession to the European Union that had led to the completion of Zagreb-Brussels talks in June as well as for Croatia to continue to actively push for stability in the region's countries and their drawing closer to Europe.
In an interview with Croatian Television, Merkel said German-Croatian economic contacts would be stronger now that Croatia was practically a member of the EU, namely even safer for investments.
Many Croats live in Germany. There are many links to Germany and the Germans think about Croatia in a positive way. In Croatia I will talk about how to improve economic ties, she said.
Merkel said the completion of Croatia's EU accession negotiations was "great news", as many requirements had to be met to join the Union.
I want to express my respect for what Croatia has gone through on the road to the EU. The Croatian government has done a lot that made it possible for the European Commission to allow accession to the EU, which Germany will support, of course, she said, adding that Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor had done a great job.
She said her talks with Croatia's most senior officials would also address the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty in the German parliament, which she expects to have a positive conclusion.
I will ask that Croatia actively support the countries which haven't come this far, Bosnia and Herzegovina for example, and that the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo does not escalate, Merkel said.
Asked to assess the forthcoming monitoring of Croatia and the holding of an accession referendum, she said Croatia had not embarked on the long road to the EU in vain and that the people in Croatia wanted to join the EU, which would make Croatia the second country in the region to become an EU member after Slovenia.
Asked if the debt crisis in Europe would delay the admission of the region's other countries to the EU, Merkel said it would not and that all Western Balkan countries had the prospect of joining the EU, depending on compliance with requirements.
If some countries have debts, we will not leave others outside the door. It is important, for example, that Serbia cooperate with Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs a government, Macedonia has to settle the dispute about its name with Greece. All this has to be solved now, but if Greece, Portugal and Ireland have difficulties now, we will not deprive other countries of their prospects, Merkel said.
