A majority of the Committee members agreed to include the following sentence in Article 15: (The Committee) welcomes the progress Croatia has made on its path to the European Union and notes that this well-prepared country with a population of less than 4.5 million puts no strain on the integration capacity of the European Union.
The amendment was proposed by German Christian Democrat Bernd Posselt and Czech Socialist Libor Roucek.
The report, prepared by Committee Chairman Elmar Brock, was carried with 44 votes in favour, five against and three abstentions. It will be included on the agenda of a plenary session of the European Parliament scheduled for December 13.
The report was very critical of the European Commission's document on the enlargement strategy and its definition of the EU's integration capacity, which was released on November 8.