Mayer said that in a worst-case scenario Croatia's EU entry talks could be finished by the end of October and accordingly a treaty of accession could be signed between November 2011 and April 2012.
Mayer said that at the moment it seemed that the number of Croatians in favour of their country's EU entry overweighed those against by a 10-percent margin, with 30 percent of Croatians not believing there were no benefits from Croatia's admission to the Union. He, therefore, called for permanent communication between the government and citizens in order to dispel doubts about whether EU membership will be justified.
Commenting on the remaining outstanding issues in the negotiating process, the EU diplomat pointed out the shipbuilding sector, adding that the process of restructuring of the state-owned shipyards must be completed whereby 12,000 people would be laid off, which he said could not be avoided.
The committee's co-chairman, Dubrovnik County Prefect Nikola Dobroslavic, called for the transfer of powers and funds from the central government to regions, cities and municipalities. He warned that poor decentralisation would prevent local government units from drawing funds from EU instruments.
The co-chairwoman Linda Gilham said at a news conference after the meeting that the committee's wish was to see to it that Croatia's EU membership talks be wrapped up by the end of June.