Parliament speakers of Croatia and Poland advocate closer energy and transport ties

Warsaw - Poland and Croatia are interested in close cooperation in establishing energy and transport connections between Europe's north and south, and in close interparliamentary cooperation within European projects, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko and his Polish host, Speaker of the Sejm Radoslaw Sikorski, said during their meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday.

The speaker of the Croatian Sabor began a two-day visit to Poland during which he was scheduled to meet with senior Polish Parliament officials and the chairmen of the committees on European and foreign affairs.

"We discussed EU energy and transport connections along the north-south corridor and developments in eastern Europe and the Ukraine crisis. We agreed on cooperation between the parliaments and parliamentary committees within European projects, and we also discussed the progress of southeastern European countries towards the European Union," Leko told the press.

As regards the crisis in eastern Europe, Leko said that the Polish officials expressed concern about developments in Ukraine and Russian policy in that regard and stressed that Europe should show greater unity in dealing with that problem.

According to Leko, the Polish officials said that a solution to the problem should be based on the principles of international law and should include the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over the Russian-occupied part of its territory.

As for southeastern Europe, Poland expressed support for the EU integration of those countries.

The two speakers of parliament agreed on the importance of ensuring European energy security to allow European countries greater independence from Russia. It was said that Poland was soon to complete tan LNG terminal in Swinoujscie in the north of the country and was very interested in connecting to the future LNG terminal on the northern Croatian Adriatic island of Krk.

Sikorski said that to Poles Croatia was a byword for summer holidays, noting that the number of Poles vacationing on the Croatian Adriatic coast had increased to 700,000.

On Wednesday, Leko was scheduled to meet with the Speaker of the Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz, and the chairmen of the committees on European and foreign affairs.

Autor: Hina