Minister Gordan Jandroković participated in Brussels conference on future and EU perspective of South Eastern Europe, organized by European Parliament’s EPP Group

In his speech in Croatian, Minister Jandroković thanked the European People’s Party for supporting Croatia’s EU membership and expressed satisfaction over the fact that for the first time a speech had been delivered in Croatian, a future official language of the EU

In his speech in Croatian, Minister Jandroković thanked the European People’s Party for supporting Croatia’s EU membership and expressed satisfaction over the fact that for the first time a speech had been delivered in Croatian, a future official language of the EU. He pointed out that Croatia had entered the final stages of the negotiations and expected to close them during Hungary’s presidency in the first half of the following year. He emphasized at that the importance of the EU membership perspective for Europe’s southeast as a whole, saying that that had been precisely what had influenced the progress in the region thus far.

He recalled concrete examples of regional cooperation, including the well-developed cooperation within CEFTA, the setting up of the Regional Cooperation Council, the initiative to found a transport and energy community of South Eastern Europe, the agreements between Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia on cooperation in transport along Corridor X, numerous agreements on cooperation in defence, judicature and between police, as well as the intensified cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic integration processes. As one concrete example he mentioned Croatia’s making available the Croatian translation of the acquis for all of the countries in the region, commending the launch of the so-called Brdo Process, which has set up the leading framework for the further strengthening of regional cooperation in an atmosphere of trust, dialogue and mutual understanding.

Saying that the region was doing more and more to incorporate the EU values, Minister Jandroković expressed satisfaction with the positive dynamic completing the circle of reconciliation on the path towards a common European future.

As an important impetus for continuing the reforms in the region he welcomed the recent European Union’s decisions such as liberalizing the visa regime for the citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Commission’s recommendation to grant Montenegro the candidate status, and the decision to pass on to the European Commission Serbia’s EU membership request.

He said at that that Croatia would continue its active engagement in South Eastern Europe and promote Euro-Atlantic perspective for all of the countries in the region.

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