Croatia, Italy sign police cooperation agreement

The ministers said the two police forces had cooperated very successfully in the past and that relations after the signing of the agreement would be even better, notably after Croatia joined the European Union in 2013.

The Croatian police will have to work hardest on the Schengen regime, given that it will cover thousands of kilometres of the EU's outer border.

Maroni said Italy was especially pleased that Croatia had wrapped up its EU accession negotiations and supported Croatia on the European path.

The first step in closer cooperation will be the engagement of Italian police in the "Safe Tourist Season" programme to help Italian tourists in Pula, Split and Hvar.

"Italy is also willing to welcome Croatian police officers. When and how will be decided by a task force that meets tomorrow," said Maroni.

Karamarko said he was pleased with the agreement and that cooperation between the Croatian and Italian police forces would be "much more intensive" than until now. He said more than one million Italian tourists would visit Croatia this summer, so "it was logical" to engage Italian police in Croatian resorts.

Karamarko said the talks with the Italian delegation also touched on raising airport safety and border protection.

Asked by the press about cooperation with the police forces of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said cooperation and data exchange was imperative as well as the monitoring of criminal groups in order to "protect this area from crime."

Karamarko said the Serbian interior minister would visit Zagreb towards the end of the month for talks on a joint data base.