SANADER, GUSENBAUER SAY CROATIA-AUSTRIA RELATIONS OUTSTANDING
Regardless of who is in power in Croatia and Austria, bilateral relations are outstanding and developing well in all areas, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said after talks in Vienna on Wednesday.
The two officials discussed Croatia's road to European Union membership, Croatian-Austrian relations, and the situation in Southeast Europe.
Austria strongly supports Croatia's road to the EU and is interested in the accession negotiations ending in a constructive fashion as soon as possible, not only because Austrian companies are successful doing business in Croatia, but also because bilateral relations are extraordinary, said Gusenbauer.
He added that Croatia's accession to the EU would have a stabilising effect on the whole region.
Sanader said today's talks showed that Croatian-Austrian relations were extraordinary, without outstanding issues. He informed Gusenbauer that Croatia was likely to receive an invitation to join NATO at a Bucharest summit next April.
Both officials said Croatia and Austria had a common interest in developing relations regardless of who was in power, and that they were interested in the permanent political stability of Southeast Europe.
Sanader said they also talked about Kosovo, stating that it was the most difficult issue in present-day Europe.
This was Sanader's first meeting with Gusenbauer since the Social Democrat leader became Austria's new federal chancellor.
Sanader accepted Gusenbauer's invitation to attend a meeting of prime ministers from Southeast Europe in Salzburg in late July, while the chancellor accepted Sanader's invitation to visit Croatia.
The Austrian press asked Sanader to comment on allegations in some Croatian media about a secret annex to an indictment by the Hague war crimes tribunal with the names of some former Croatian senior officers and ministers.
Sanader said Croatia had received confirmation from The Hague that this did not mean that the indictment against army generals Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak would be extended as those officers and ministers were neither under investigation nor accused and could be summoned to the tribunal only as witnesses.
(Hina)
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