Minister Jandroković thanked the Kingdom of Belgium for support provided to the Republic of Croatia on its path towards membership of the European Union and for concrete forms of consulting assistance provided during the negotiation process. The two ministers agreed that reforms needed to be continued in order to fulfil all the well-known criteria for membership in the process in the course of which Belgium will provide its continuous support. Before acceding to the European Union, adequate mechanisms for solving open issues with neighbours need to be established, but complete resolution of these issues is not a precondition for Union membership, said Minister Vanackere.
As an introduction to the Belgian presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year, Minister Jandroković informed his colleague about the current status of the Croatian negotiation process with the European Union. He stressed that Croatia’s goal was to complete the technical part of negotiations by the end of the year, and it is therefore committed to the carrying out of all the remaining reforms.
The two parties also exchanged opinions on the work of the today’s summit on South East Europe, and on the overall situation in the region.