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9/8/05

Croatian News Agency - CROATIA CAN'T AFFORD TO STAY OUTSIDE EU SAYS CZECH PRESIDENT

Croatian News Agency

CROATIA CAN'T AFFORD TO STAY OUTSIDE EU SAYS CZECH PRESIDENT

Post-communist countries cannot afford to stay outside the European Union like Norway or Switzerland and this is why Croatia should become an EU member, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said in Zagreb on Wednesday. Speaking at the Journalist House on the topic "Europe after the double 'no' to the European Constitution", Klaus, often called a Euro-skeptic, an attribute he refuses, said he advocated a Europe of inclusion, whose member Croatia too should become. Klaus said he had always answered positively to the most frequent question posed by Croatian officials and media during his ongoing visit to Zagreb - the issue of Croatia's EU membership. We support European integration, a Europe without unnecessary barriers, a Europe which is inclusive and not exclusive, he added. Asked by a State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, to name three arguments in favour of Croatia's membership in the EU, as imperfect as it was at the moment, Klaus said Croatia would definitely benefit from EU membership. This means joining an EU without barriers, he said. The other reason is that post-communist countries like the Czech Republic and Croatia cannot afford the luxury of staying outside of the EU like Norway or Switzerland, he added.

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