The European Union on Friday warned Croatia that its unilateral decision to impose a fisheries protection zone in the Adriatic Sea could undermine its EU membership negotiations, reported dpa. Speaking at an accession conference in Brussels, the EU commissioner in charge of enlargement, Olli Rehn, expressed "surprise" at moves by the Croatian parliament to stop EU vessels from entering the so-called Ecological and Fishery Protection Zone as of January 2008. "If EU vessels experience difficulties as from January 2008, this could have negative repercussions for (Croatia's) accession negotiations," Rehn told reporters. "We nevertheless hope that a common agreement based on good neighbourly relations can be found," Rehn added. Croatia's EU neighbours Italy and Slovenia, which share that stretch of the northern Adriatic Sea, have both complained about the protection zone.
