The proposal is an addition to the European Partnership with Croatia, adopted in September 2004, and is compiled in accordance with the 2005 Progress Report on Croatia which was also published in Brussels today.
Accession Partnership outlines a list of short- and medium-term priorities in the country's preparations for its further integration with the European Union.
Croatia is expected to respond to the Partnership document by drafting a plan with a timetable and specific measures which it is going to implement so as to carry out priorities cited in the EC document.
Priorities from the Accession Partnership will also serve as a starting point for programming the financial assistance which can be granted to Croatia from EU pre-accession funds.
The Commission will regularly monitor Croatia's progress through progress reports and other structures set up under the Stabilisation and Association process.
The Accession Partnership outlines measures which should be carried out in short- and medium-term regarding political criteria. This set of criteria covers fields such as democracy and the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities as well as regional issues and international obligations.
The country is expected to meet certain economic criteria, and the document also tackles the country's ability to assume obligations stemming from EU membership, i.e the ability of Croatia to adjust its legislation to the EU acquis communautaire and implement those changes.
The short-term priorities, which should be carried out in one to two years, cover the implementation of a strategy and action plan for judicial reform, including the adoption of necessary new legislation.
Another priority is to adopt and begin implementing a national strategy for preventing and combating corruption. This also includes efforts aimed at making the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime fully operational.
Croatia is urged to accelerate the implementation of the Constitutional Law on National Minorities and ensure proportional representation of minorities in units of local authorities as well as in state administration and judicial bodies.
It is urged also to complete the process of refugee return, "including all cases of repossession, reconstruction and housing care for former occupancy/tenancy rights holders".
Another priority is to "maintain full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia".
Croatia is also urged to "work to find definite solutions to pending bilateral issues, in particular border issues with Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina".
The document calls on Zagreb to ensure "proper implementation of all commitments undertaken in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in areas such as competition policy, in particular the need to adopt and implement a restructuring plan for the steel sector, and the acquisition of real estate. "Conclude ongoing and forthcoming negotiations on trade matters linked to the SAA (such as on sugar, the enlargement protocol and further trade concessions on agricultural and fisheries product)," reads the section headlined the Short-Term Priorities.
The medium-term priorities refer to a period of three or four years.