The French Senate has been advocating Croatia's admission to the European Union for years and the formality of ratification of the Croatia-EU Treaty of Accession will be done quickly, Senate Speaker Jean-Pierre Bel said in a letter that was read out at the beginning of a conference focusing on French-Croatian relations in the run-up to Croatia's entry to the European bloc. The conference was held in the Senate in Paris on Thursday.
At the very start of today's meeting, which gathered renowned French and Croatian politicians, historians and other prominent people, the participants observed a minute of silence in tribute to the late Croatian Parliament Speaker, Boris Sprem.
"Croatia is joining the EU at a time when the Union is going through a serious crisis, and Croatia and France can together build a better Europe," according to Bel's letter which was read out by Senator Michele Andre.
"The relations between Croatia and France have been constantly improving and their strategic partnership, signed in 2010, has also contributed to that," the Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Nenad Stazic, said at the conference. He noted that Croatia was the first non-EU member to conclude such partnership with France.
"Upon its entry into the Union, Croatia will not stop the reform processes but will continue them, and it will help other countries in the southeast of Europe draw closer to the European Union," Stazic said, thanking France for its continued support to Zagreb on the path to EU membership.
Earlier this week in Paris, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and his French counterpart Francois Hollande reaffirmed the good bilateral relations. Hollande said he would like to be the first or among the first presidents to visit Croatia after it entered the EU on 1 July 2013.
