Croatia suspends control over fishing zone

 
Published: Tuesday 15 April 2008

To speed up membership talks with the eu, the Croatian government has agreed to suspend control over a no-fishing zone and allow eu nations to fish near its waters.

Croatian prime minister, Ivo Sanader, told the parliament that the nation was faced with a stark choice--to insist on the zone or to continue membership talks with the eu. "Eventual accession to the eu is an absolute national interest," said Sanader. In 2003, Croatia established a fishing and ecology protected zone in the Adriatic sea. It said the sea was excessively fished by Adriatic neighbours such as Italy and Slovenia. However, after it sought eu candidacy in 2004, it agreed to give exemptions to eu nations. Starting this year, Croatia again barred eu members from fishing in the zone.Italy and Slovenia complained the move. The European Commission reacted to the ban making it clear that Croatia's accession talks would stall unless the issue was resolved.

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