Minister Gordan Jandroković attended 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy, held 6-8 February 2009

This year’s Munich Conference, which saw French President Nicolas Sarkozy, U. S. Vice-President Joseph R. Biden, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel et al, discussed the relations between NATO and the Russian Federation in the context of the future of Europe’s security, measures of controlling arms proliferation, the future of the nuclear weapons issue, relations in the Transcaucasia, Western Balkans, and Near and Middle East, as well as the future of NATO and the mission in Afghanistan.

On the Conference’s margins, after the meeting with Bavarian Minister for Federal and European Affairs Emilia Müller, Minister Jandroković held a bilateral meeting with Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, as well as several informal meetings with foreign ministers of the EU members. Foreign ministers of the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Greece told Minister Jandroković their respective countries would soon ratify the protocol on Croatia’s NATO accession. During the meeting with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, both sides expressed conviction that Croatia would soon become a full-fledged NATO member.

The meeting with Finnish Foreign Minister Stubb focused on the current state of Croatia’s EU accession negotiations. Minister Jandroković said that despite Slovenia’s obstruction of the negotiations, Croatia’s goal remains to close the negotiations by end-2009. In that regard, he stated the argument why the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute should be solved in accordance with the principles of the international law, adding that the EU principle of not brining bilateral issues into the negotiation process should be respected. Minister Stubb expressed understanding for such positions and showed support for Croatia’s quick EU accession, stressing the importance of continuing the dialog with the European Commission.