Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Slovenia is announcing that the Protected Environment and Fishing Zone (ZERP) will be abolished by the end of the month and it seems that the European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn is doing his utmost to convince Croatia of backing down from enforcing ZERP.

Opposition leader Zoran Milanovic (SDP) said that before going before the representatives of neighbouring countries in Brussels, the Croatian President should first discuss the issue with relevant political forces in the country.

“Croatia has not been faced with such a delicate foreign policy issue in a long time. It borders on a situation that might discredit Croatia and presents a deadlock situation for which the country needs to find a solution. We have neither the team nor the crew or helmsman and captain to steer such a ship,” Milanovic said.

The leader of the Croatian Peasant’s Party Josip Friscic said that Croatia was undoubtedly faced with a problem with neighbouring states and that it had to sit down at the negotiating table to settle the matter.

“Managing Croatian territorial waters does not mean excluding conditions under which Slovene and Italian fishing vessels can fish; it means defining when they can do so, what they can fish and with what kind of vessels and equipment they are allowed to use, because this is our right,” Friscic said.