Slovenia has expressed backing for the launch of EU membership negotiations with Croatia and also the launch of EU accession talks with Turkey under the set conditions, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said at the conclusion of the EU summit in Brussels on Friday.
Jansa said he hoped Slovenia's statement of support for Croatia would create a new framework for bilateral cooperation between the countries which would in turn help to promote the resolution of open issues in a European spirit.
Explaining the decision of EU leaders, Jansa said it was decided that membership negotiations with Croatia would be launched on 17 March of next year. However, Croatia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is an obligation for Croatia, the Slovenian PM added.
The new wording of the decision to begin accession negotiations now sets down exactly who will monitor Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal, Jansa said, adding that the EU foreign ministers would be tasked with this.
Commenting on the decision of the EU to launch negotiations with Turkey under certain conditions, Jansa said it was "only right that the expected date for the conclusion of talks is left open so that nobody has the illusion that everything will go smoothly," Jansa said.
He said the decision to launch official membership negotiations was a compromise, given the conditions that have been set.
"If Turkey undertakes fast reforms, it will be a different country then than it is today, a country that will meet all the conditions thus making the final decision easier," Jansa said.
"But if Turkey heads the other way, it is safe to say that negotiations will not result in its membership of the EU," he added.
Jansa said that public opinion in the EU must be respected in the case of Turkey as in all cases. He believes that there are currently two groups of countries in the EU: a group in which public debates have been intense and there is support for Turkish membership and those countries where there has been little or no public debate and there is no clear stance on Turkey's bid.
Slovenia is part of the second group, Jansa said, adding that he sees no need for a referendum on Turkey's bid in Slovenia.
When talking about the EU budget Jansa expects that the talks for 2007-2013 will be "one of the most difficult issues dealt with in the EU in the first half of 2005".
Jansa said that he expected the talks to return to scratch several times before an agreement is finally achieved.
Analysts believe that the big differences between the members on the so-called financial perspective could result in the talks dragging out past the set deadline. The differences are demonstrated in the very vague set of principles adopted today by the EU leaders.
The decision states only that the new perspective should guarantee sufficient funds for the EU to effectively tackle future challenges, including those stemming from the developmental differences among the members.
According to Jansa, the much-disputed spending ceiling remains an open issue in talks on the future budget framework.
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