CEFTA members Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania have lowered the criteria for CEFTA membership in order to expand the free trade area to other Southeast European countries, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader of Croatia told reporters after the plenary session of a CEFTA conference in Zagreb on Tuesday.
Countries wishing to join CEFTA must conclude agreements on free trade with CEFTA members, they must have institutionalised relations with the EU, and they must have full membership of the WTO or commit themselves to respect all WTO regulations, Sanader said. This opens up the possibility of membership for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania and Moldova.
The Trade Minister at the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Trade, Rumen Ovcharov, Romanian Economy and Power Minister Julie Winkler, and PM Sanader described CEFTA as the EU's ante-chamber, adding that the Zagreb summit ensured CEFTA's future.
PM Sanader said that Romania and Bulgaria's admission to the EU on 1 January 2007 would have a positive impact on Croatia, and that Croatia's admission to the EU would positively affect Macedonia's entry and the entry of other countries.
He recalled that the new, less strict criteria for CEFTA membership had been agreed in Salzburg and at a recent meeting with his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts, Sergei Stanishev and Calin Popescu Tariceanu.
CEFTA is an example of how other countries can be helped to join the EU, Ovcharov and Winkler said, supporting Croatia's EU membership bid. They said that CEFTA ensured regional stability, economic growth and speedier adjustment to EU standards.
Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, who was a guest at the summit, said that Macedonia could be considered a CEFTA member as of today, and that the formalities would soon be solved by the country's foreign ministry.
Buckovski said he hoped Croatia would join the EU in 2009 and be followed by Macedonia.
Croatia has been a full CEFTA member since 1 March 2003. The Central European free trade area was established on 21 December 1992. CEFTA members are the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. The first five countries joined the EU last year.
CEFTA's main goal is the development of economic relations between the member-countries.