CROATIA HAS come within two years of EU membership after the European Commission called for the completion of entry talks with what will be the union’s 28th member.
The EU’s executive branch has called on member states to close talks on the four remaining accession chapters – or policy areas – saying the former Yugoslav republic is ready “to move ahead” with its membership application.
Although the commission’s recommendation must still be endorsed by EU leaders, it believes the way is clear for Croatia to join the EU on July 1st, 2013. The recommendation represents a big step forward for the country, as the commission strongly criticised the lack of progress on key judicial reforms only in March.
Croatia was urged to take further steps to reform its judiciary, prosecute war crimes and tackle corruption. This spurred the country to swiftly implement last-minute reforms. “The commission has negotiated hard but fair over the last years, applying strict conditionality and making sure that all EU criteria and benchmarks are fulfilled. This firm commitment has paid off,” said commission chief José Manuel Barroso.
“EU enlargement is about credibility: credibility from candidate countries in respecting the criteria and enforcing the required reforms, and credibility on the EU side in moving forward once the agreed conditions have been met.” In light of concern among many EU states that Zagreb might reverse its efforts in coming years, the country’s president, Ivo Josipovic, said anti-fraud reforms will continue after accession.
Although some member states remain to be convinced Croatia has done enough on corruption, EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Füle said he was confident the application would be endorsed: “The judiciary system has been reformed to make it more efficient. New judges and prosecutors will be appointed on the basis of their professional merits.”
Human rights and civil liberties have been upheld, he said. “Effectively fighting corruption will provide a secure legal environment for all the citizens.”