The members of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and European Integration Committees talked today to the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Serbia of the Croatian Parliament – Sabor about the two countries European integrations with a special focus on the experiences of the Republic of Croatia in the process.

Welcoming the guests, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Prof. Dr Dragoljub Micunovic stressed that good regional cooperation might become something that we are known for in future, and not for our past as was the case so far. Speaking about the citizens’ expectations regarding European integration he emphasised the parliament’s role in the cooperation with the civil sector and citizens which could assist their better understanding of the integration process and benefits to the individual gained by the country’s EU accession.

European Integration Committee Chairman Laszlo Varga briefed the Croatian colleagues on the Committees current activities on the preparation of answers to the European Commission’s questionnaire, the part relating to the Parliament, which would be prepared and adopted by the end of next year. He also added that cross-border cooperation projects financed from the European Union pre-accession funds were an important segment of the Committee’s work.

Neven Mimica, Sabor Deputy Speaker and Croatia-Serbia Friendship Group President, was pleased by the continued cooperation with the National Assembly which had contributed to the overall development of bilateral cooperation and creation of an atmosphere of mutual trust, important both on the regional and EU level. He was pleased at the fact that European integrations were the topic of the meeting and conveyed Croatia’s experiences on the road to European integration, declaring Sabor’s contribution important for the overall social reform and negotiation process. He shared the parliamentary work methodology Sabor used to adopt 500 European laws in 10 years with the Serbian colleagues, commending Serbia’s approach - preparing beforehand for the European Commission’s questionnaire using other countries’ experiences. He repeated that Croatia advocates the EU accession of countries in the region, which is the guarantee of the overall stability of the region. Speaking of cross-border cooperation, Mimica added that in addition to using EU pre-accession funds for cross-border projects, we could prepare for big joint projects financed by EU structural funds, as well as joint participation in the realisation of the Danube Region Strategy for which the EU had allocated 25 billion EUR. He announced that next year in Croatia the deputies would have the opportunity to discuss the parliament’s evaluation and contribution to the monitoring of the implementation of laws and the situation in the sphere of respecting ethnic minority rights in Serbia and Croatia.

The officials deemed that good cooperation between the friendship groups and foreign affairs and European integration committees at the National Assembly and Croatian Parliament should provide a good example for other working bodies to improve relations and share parliamentary practice.

President of the National Assembly’s Friendship Group with Croatia Janko Veselinovic briefed the colleagues that the National Assembly’s and Sabor’s friendship groups comprise 43 members, which is one tenth of the deputies and representatives, offering genuine potential for the partnership between Serbia and Croatia on the road to EU, and the future partnership within the EU.