Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, February 16 (CP) – The Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic has said speaking about Croatia’s accession negotiations with the EU and NATO that both memberships were close to becoming reality.
Jandrokovic admitted that the implementation of the Protected Ecology and Fisheries Belt (ZERP) in the Adriatic had resulted in the EU membership negotiations slowing down and has made Croatia’s position on the international scene somewhat delicate.
He stressed that Croatia had the right to ZERP implementation and would fight for both retaining ZERP and entering the EU, as both were of key interest.
Since introducing the ZERP against EU members on January 1, 2008, namely Slovenia and Italy, Croatia has suffered a slowdown in negotiations on EU membership, which might make it miss its 2009 EU entry it has set as its goal.