ZAGREB, May 4 (Hina) - Croatia could join the European Union in 2009 with Norway and Iceland, Macedonia in 2012, and the remaining south-east European countries in 2020, the European Policy Centre (EPC), a Brussels-based institute for
analysis.
ZAGREB, May 4 (Hina) - Croatia could join the European Union in 2009
with Norway and Iceland, Macedonia in 2012, and the remaining
south-east European countries in 2020, the European Policy Centre
(EPC), a Brussels-based institute for analysis.#L#
In a commentary entitled "Where Does Europe End?", published on the
EPC's web site on Monday, the institute's director for studies, Fraser
Cameron, forecasts the EU's future enlargement rounds. He bases his
estimates on the experience of former EU candidates and the time they
needed to prepare for membership.
According to his estimates, Bulgaria and Romania would join the EU in
2007, Croatia, Norway and Iceland in 2009, Turkey, Macedonia and
Switzerland in 2012, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania
and Kosovo in 2020, and Ukraine, Belarus and Moldavia in 2025.
Cameron believes that Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan would be
left outside the EU.
With regard to Croatia, Cameron says that the European Commission
recently recommended opening accession talks with Zagreb and that some
believe that Croatia could catch up with Bulgaria and Romania because
of a favourable economic situation.
The EU does not like to admit individual countries and may prefer
mini-waves for its future enlargement, Cameron said.
The EU should now demonstrate that it can function with 25 members, it
is said in the commentary.
Only if the latest enlargement round proves successful will the EU be
able to consider new members, Cameron concluded.
(Hina) rml