Minister Gordan Jandroković met with Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

The collocutors agreed that the relations between the Republic of Croatia and the Holly See were traditionally very good. Minister Jandroković specially thanked for the firm and continuous support of the Holy See to Croatia on its way to become a full-fledged member of the European Union. In this sense, he informed Cardinal Bertone about the current status of Croatia’s accession negotiations and the efforts made in order for the negotiations to be unblocked by Slovenia so that Croatia could, in accordance with the plan of the European Commission, complete the technical part of negotiations by end-2009. The Minister also emphasised that Croatia was intensively working on the opening and closing of the remaining chapters, as well as fulfilling all the criteria and obligations arising from the negotiations process.

They also discussed the current situation in South East Europe. Minister Jandroković said that Croatia was prepared to share its experience and assist the countries in the region on their way to Euro-Atlantic integration in order to establish long-term stability and security in this region.