“Croatia is an example and a model for Kosovo of how a country can become an EU member state through reform and achievements. Croatia’s EU membership has created a new moment in the region, whereby all the political and economic elites have grown closer. Croatia can play an even stronger role in encouraging regional cooperation and European integration,” said Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj, who was on an official visit to Croatia. He invited Croatian companies to invest in Kosovo.
“Croatia had repeatedly voiced its support and congratulated Kosovo and Serbia as well as the European Commission on the agreement reached and on the beginning of normalisation of relations, which enables both countries to embark on European integration. Croatia supports Kosovo's progress towards EU membership, supports the signing of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and supports the agreement on the liberalisation of the visa regime, just as we supported and support Serbia's progress in European integration and the beginning of negotiations between Serbia and the EU. Kosovo's progress is a component of the same agreement, the same project which contributes to the stabilisation of the region, the stabilisation of those countries," said Pusić after the meeting with her Kosovar counterpart.
Pusić said Croatia believed that each country met the requirements and criteria at its own pace. "However, we believe this path should be continuous. Each country should make lasting progress and in this context we support Kosovo's lasting progress towards European integration." She expressed confidence that every country in the region would reach that goal and said that the path was as valuable as the goal when it came to the EU. The path is reform, transformation, state building, while the goal is membership and functioning as a member, she said, adding that Croatia supported Kosovo’s membership in regional organizations.
The two ministers also discussed economic cooperation, agreeing there was plenty of room for improvement. In regard to minorities, Pusić said that “Croatia has a very small but sensitive minority with a long tradition,” adding that Hoxhaj had outlined Kosovo's important plans in this regard, from including the Croatian minority into the Constitution to guaranteeing political representation, which Croatia considers exceptionally important.
Pusić answered the reporter’s questions about Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European assistance over floods. “President Yanukovych's concessions to the opposition and the Ukrainian parliament's decision to withdraw police from the streets and ban the use of firearms are in keeping with the European Union's most optimistic expectations,” she said. "I think these decisions and this draft agreement which has been reached today and which Yanukovych announced bring a dramatic turnaround," she said, adding that everything decided in the Ukrainian parliament or covered by this agreement de facto covered what the opposition requested. Pusić also said it was important that dealing with the Ukrainian crisis had returned to institutions. She recalled that the foreign ministers of Poland, Germany and France adapted their mission in Kiev yesterday to the circumstances on the scene, saying their mission had played a role in the positive turn of events in Ukraine. “The Ukrainian parliament has voted for an immediate withdrawal of police from the streets, banning the use of firearms and a decision that only parliament can decide on declaring a state of emergency in accordance with the laws and the Constitution,” Pusić said, adding that Yanukovych's party had a majority in parliament but that the deputies had nonetheless managed to have a quorum. “The whole world's eyes will now be on the realisation of the agreement,” Pusić said.
Asked about requesting assistance from the European Union Solidarity Fund over the floods in Croatia, Pusić said that “Croatia will estimate the damage caused by recent floods and see if it can ask for assistance from the European Union Solidarity Fund, while the damage estimate in the natural disaster which recently struck the Gorski Kotar mountainous region is under way. There are criteria that have to be met to apply for assistance from the Solidarity Fund for natural disasters. In our case, the damage must be about EUR 250 million. There is still flooding but we are already estimating the damage,” she said.
Concerning Croatia’s proposal for assisting in the stabilization of BiH, Pusić said: “Croatia will make a proposal to the EU under which Bosnia and Herzegovina's resolution of its specific problems would not be a precondition for launching any EU process, but would be built into the country's pre-accession and accession process.” Pusić said the proposal, which she believes could help BiH overcome the current situation towards a new role and status in terms of its EU membership, would be presented in writing at a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers as a basis for discussion. Pusić said she had asked that the matter be put on the agenda of the next Council of Ministers meeting and informed of it some EU foreign ministers and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "We believe that EU membership is one of the few things that enjoy relatively great support of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our proposal that I will present is a suggestion that a process be defined that would suit Bosnia and Herzegovina instead of insisting on the settlement of some issues as a precondition for starting any EU process,” Pusić said.