Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said on Thursday the first reactions to the treaty on Croatia's accession to the European Union, which was made public yesterday, were good and that she felt that citizens understood that the government had not kept anything secret at any moment.
Our wish from the first second, when (Polish) Prime Minister Donald Tusk brought the treaty (to Zagreb), was to make it public. We couldn't make it public before the European Council declassified it and I think this will help the referendum on EU accession to succeed, Kosor told reporters.
She said the war veterans' reactions to the treaty were excellent.
The veterans have seen that the claims, made in the media as well, that disabled veterans' pensions will be reduced, are not correct, said Kosor.
The government yesterday posted on its website the Croatian translation of the accession treaty, which is still subject to legal and linguistic revision, and the English-language draft accession treaty. The 195-page text is divided into five sections, from treaty principles and adjustments to permanent and provisional regulations, and regulations on the implementation of the treaty.
Polish Ambassador to Croatia Wieslaw Tarka said on Wednesday, before the treaty was made public, that in Poland the situation had been similar as in Croatia because in "the six weeks between the first draft treaty and the final version there was a lot of nervousness in the public" and suspicion "that the treaty might contain something more than was said."
He said that at the request of the Croatian government to the Polish EU Presidency and the secretariat of the Council of the EU, a decision was made on Wednesday to make the draft treaty publicly available.
