ZAGREB, April 26 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Tuesday received Austria's Minister of European and International Affairs, Michael Spindelegger, and Slovak Foreign Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.
Kosor stressed that the path Croatia had gone through in the negotiations with the European Union was very demanding, with more than 120 benchmarks set for the opening and closing of policy areas, adding that Croatia had implemented thorough reforms.
Croatia has two important chapters left and is intensively working on them, notably on Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) on which the government had forwarded two reports to the European Commission over the past month, the statement said. I believe we can wrap up the negotiations by the end of June, PM Kosor said adding that June was an important deadline also because Croatia was marking the 20th anniversary of its independence in June.
Minister Spindelegger expressed his full support to the closure of Croatia's EU membership negotiations and congratulated the government on the work it had already completed.
Dzurinda also congratulated Kosor, notably on being able to solve the border dispute with Slovenia, and sent a message to the Croatian citizens that the European Union is not perfect, but that there is no better alternative.
Both, Spindelegger and Dzurinda, stressed that Croatia's EU entry talks were a strong message to the countries in the region to continue to implement reforms, and reiterated their readiness to help Croatia in the final stage of its EU entry negotiations.
Kosor thanked them for their support.
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