Regarding the press release by the Italian Republic’s MFA on 29 November 2005

The Croatian MFAEI sees no reason for the Italian side’s concern and can in no way agree with the statement that Croatia is sending “negative signals” as regards the equal position of the Italian citizens in relation to the citizens of other EU members on the real estate market, as well as the issues regarding the denationalisation in Croatia.

The question of compensation for the Italian nationalised and optant property was solved by the Osim and Rome Agreements. The MFAEI wishes to reiterate Croatia’s readiness to pay the rest of the debt according to those agreements and expresses its regret that the Italian side did not accept that kind of payment.

As regards the question of real estate market accessibility – separated from the question of compensation and denationalisation, so there is no reason for the Italian MFA to refer to the agreement between Croatia and Austria – the MFAEI wishes to remind that in the relations between Croatia and Italy, as well as all the other EU members, the binding agreement is the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), that currently obliges Croatia to implement the Croatian laws in the field of real estate market accessibility.

Claims that the Italian citizens are in an unequal position in Croatia are baseless. We wish to point out that Croatia, for the very reason of ensuring their equality with the citizens of other EU members, requested a clear and unconditional statement by the Italian side that the Croatian citizens can freely begin acquiring real estate in Italy, which is the basis of the reciprocity principle. So far, Croatia has not received that statement.

The Republic of Croatia is fully aware of its obligations, both towards the SAA and stemming from the pre-accession negotiations with the EU, and expects that the issue will continue to be dealt with based on objective facts.