Sanader outlines vision of united Europe

Croatian PM Ivo Sanader says the common aim must be the inclusion of all south-east Europe in a new undivided Europe. Sanader added that the policy of EU and NATO expansion was an irreplaceable driving force behind efforts at reform implementation. Sanader outlines vision of united Europe In an article written for Vienna daily Presse, he said that anything else would be a waste of time, and a return to outdated concepts of Balkanisation. The Croatian prime minister said that “EU and NATO compatibility in south-east Europe is important,” as was the preservation of trans-Atlantic unity in matters of common visions and democratic values, freedom, legal states and respect for human and minority rights. Led by such visions and values, Croatia had come far with reforms, and had left the zone of instability and transitional weakness, he stressed. Sanader added that such a Croatia would be “a lynchpin and important strategic link in south-east Europe’s security network, stability, and democratic prosperity, that we seek to expand together with our other partners in the region, in the interests of a European balance and the compatibility of the EU and NATO’s aims.” Dialogue over the common concept and NATO’s strategic direction is already under way and embraces important spheres, such as common responses to new global security challenges, the Alliance’s readiness for action and engagement, particularly in sensitive regions like Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as in matters relating to NATO expansion, said the Croatian prime minister. He said that currently the spotlight was fully trained on the situation in Kosovo and the different reactions to events there, adding that no less important was the open political debate on constitutional change and long-term stability in Bosnia-Hercegovina, in order for her to to become a democratic European state capable of surviving with three sovereign, constituent and equal peoples. According to Sanader, regulating relations between individual states in the region would be crucial for their development, as well for general stability in south-east Europe. Ivo Sanader (FoNet, archive)

Sanader outlines vision of united Europe

In an article written for Vienna daily Presse, he said that anything else would be a waste of time, and a return to outdated concepts of Balkanisation.

The Croatian prime minister said that “EU and NATO compatibility in south-east Europe is important,” as was the preservation of trans-Atlantic unity in matters of common visions and democratic values, freedom, legal states and respect for human and minority rights.

Led by such visions and values, Croatia had come far with reforms, and had left the zone of instability and transitional weakness, he stressed.

Sanader added that such a Croatia would be “a lynchpin and important strategic link in south-east Europe’s security network, stability, and democratic prosperity, that we seek to expand together with our other partners in the region, in the interests of a European balance and the compatibility of the EU and NATO’s aims.”

Dialogue over the common concept and NATO’s strategic direction is already under way and embraces important spheres, such as common responses to new global security challenges, the Alliance’s readiness for action and engagement, particularly in sensitive regions like Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as in matters relating to NATO expansion, said the Croatian prime minister.

He said that currently the spotlight was fully trained on the situation in Kosovo and the different reactions to events there, adding that no less important was the open political debate on constitutional change and long-term stability in Bosnia-Hercegovina, in order for her to to become a democratic European state capable of surviving with three sovereign, constituent and equal peoples.

According to Sanader, regulating relations between individual states in the region would be crucial for their development, as well for general stability in south-east Europe.