PARIS, April 25 (Hina) - Only several hours before the European Commission issued the avis on Croatia's EU membership application, French daily Le Figaro cited unnamed diplomatic sources in Brussels as saying that the avis would be
positive. The daily said the Europe opened its doors to the Balkans.
PARIS, April 25 (Hina) - Only several hours before the European
Commission issued the avis on Croatia's EU membership application,
French daily Le Figaro cited unnamed diplomatic sources in Brussels as
saying that the avis would be positive. The daily said the Europe
opened its doors to the Balkans.#L#
The day after the avis was announced, Les Echos daily said Croatia
passed the first stage on the path to EU entry. The daily said that
given the statements by the presidents or prime ministers of the 15 EU
member states, notably the statement which Jacques Chirac made during
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic's visit to Paris, the European
Commission's avis should be adopted at a summit in Brussels in June.
Liberation daily ran an article on the EC's positive opinion on
Croatia's application headlined "Croatia An Ideal European Candidate".
The daily stressed the avis was unconditional which meant that Croatia
met absolutely all political and economic criteria.
The French media assessed that negotiations between Brussels and
Zagreb would start next fall and added that Croatia could join the EU
in 2007 along with Romania and Bulgaria.
Le Figaro cited diplomatic sources as saying that negotiations could
be very fast as it was the case of the Scandinavian countries in
1995.
In that context Le Monde said that should that be the case, Croatia
could join the EU together with Romania and Bulgaria, in 2007.
(Hina) it