A working group on Croatia has been set up by the Commission for External Relations and Decentralised Cooperation (RELEX) of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) to monitor the country's progress towards EU membership. The group, made up of eight CoR members and chaired by Isidoro GOTTARDO (EPP/IT), will focus on decentralisation and implementation of subsidiarity in Croatia, which opened accession negotiations a year ago.

"After its involvement in the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee meetings, the CoR now takes the lead in the political dialogue at regional and local level with Croatia," stated Mr Gottardo. "Regional and local authorities in Croatia are responsible for implementing a large part of the pre-accession funds and CoR members' expertise in this field can represent an added value for these authorities throughout the negotiation period.

"The CoR wants to cooperate closely with Croatia in order to facilitate its progress towards full membership. Decentralisation is key for bringing citizens closer to the decisions Zagreb will take to implement EU legislation; it also creates greater awareness and support for the EU project," added Mr Gottardo, who is leader of the EPP group in the Committee of the Regions.

Pál SCHMITT (EPP/HU), MEP, President of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee, attended the first meeting of the working group, which stressed the responsibilities of local and regional authorities in Croatia's accession process and their role in the implementation of the pre-accession funds.

Croatian regional and local authorities were represented by: Vojko OBERSNEL, President of the Croatian Cities' Association and Mayor of Rijeka, Damir BAJS, President of the Croatian Counties’ Association and head of Bjelovarsko-Bilogorska County, Ante SANADER, head of Split County, and Dubravka SUICA, Mayor of Dubrovnik and Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

For more information, please contact: Dennis ABBOTT Tel. +32 (0)2 282 20 99 Email: dennis.abbott@cor.europa.eu Estelle POIDEVIN Tel. +32 (0)2 282 22 70 Email: estelle.poidevin@cor.europa.eu Martin MALLON Tel. +32 (0)2 282 20 33

Email: martin.mallon@cor.europa.eu Press Release in full :

http://www.cor.europa.eu/en/press/press_releases.htm

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