.png)
Zagreb - Croatia and the Czech Republic push for intensifying parliamentary cooperation, notably regarding the European policy, and for implementing the Treaty of Lisbon which envisages a stronger role for parliaments in government supervision, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko and Czech Chamber of Deputies Chairman Jan Hamaček said in Zagreb on Thursday.
"One of the more important areas of cooperation in the EU is enlargement, notably regarding Southeast Europe, but the Eastern Partnership as well. Another area, no less important, is to raise the Treaty of Lisbon to the level of reality, for parliament to play the role this treaty intended for them. There's also a third area, sharing experiences also in the national sense. Parliamentary working bodies are the best bridges for sharing experiences," Leko told reporters after meeting with Hamaček, who was on an official visit to Croatia.
Leko underlined the good multilateral cooperation in NATO and the EU, advocating the European prospects of the countries in Europe's southeast. Hamaček too supported the EU accession of Western Balkan countries.
The fact that the Czech Republic and Croatia are in the EU and NATO is visible also in the change in topics. Our topics today are EU issues, further enlargement, Hamaček told the press. I want to stress the necessity of further EU enlargement. It's the only quality tool the EU has to stabilise Europe, and the Western Balkans is the perfect area for the further application of that tool, and both countries are interested in enlargement to the Western Balkans, he added.
Both countries are interested in sharing experience, with the Czech Republic specially interested in Croatia's fiscal cash registers, considering them a very successful and technologically advanced fiscalisation model.
Leko said "our budget committee and economy and finance committee can certainly transfer their experience in building such a system in a society, in a state." He said economic cooperation could be better and that he expected bigger Czech investments in the Croatian economy as well as more Czech tourists. Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović's visit to the Czech Republic next week is a confirmation of the good relations, Leko said.
Hamaček is also scheduled to meet with President Ivo Josipović, Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić, and the Czech minority.