LUXEMBOURG, April 14 (Hina) - The European Union's Council of Ministers entrusted the European Commission at a session in Luxembourg on Monday with defining its opinion on Croatia's application for membership in the European Union
(the so-called avis).
LUXEMBOURG, April 14 (Hina) - The European Union's Council of
Ministers entrusted the European Commission at a session in
Luxembourg on Monday with defining its opinion on Croatia's
application for membership in the European Union (the so-called
avis). #L#
The Council decided to apply the procedure as envisaged by
Paragraph 49 of the Agreement on the European Union. In keeping with
the paragraph, the Commission was requested to submit to the
Council its opinion on the application, the foreign ministers of EU
member-countries said in conclusions adopted at a regular monthly
session.
The conclusion on Croatia was adopted without a debate.
Croatia submitted its application for EU membership to the EU's
Greek Presidency in Athens on February 21.
"This is an exceptionally important political decision because it
recognises and confirms Croatia's European prospects, and the
Council of Ministers has shown in the most concrete way that it is
seriously counting on Croatia as a future EU member," Croatia's
Ambassador to the EU in Brussels, Vladimir Drobnjak, told Hina in a
phone interview.
Drobnjak also pointed to the speed at which Croatia's application
had made its way to the Council of Ministers, only 52 days after its
submission, which he said would keep Croatia in the game together
with Bulgaria and Romania, which were promised admission in 2007.
Now that it has been given the green light by the Council of
Ministers, the Commission can immediately start work on defining
its opinion, which usually takes one year.
The Commission submits its opinion to the Council of Ministers,
which then decides whether it will grant the applicant candidate
status and sets a date for the start of talks on full membership.
"We are facing a huge job and we won't be allowed to slack off, but if
we do it right, chances are more than fair that we will obtain the
opinion in less than a year, and if everything goes right, Croatia
could obtain the formal status of a candidate by the end of the EU's
Irish Presidency, at the end of June next year," Drobnjak said.
Croatia may expect to receive very soon a comprehensive
questionnaire from the EC, containing some 4,000 questions which
are to be answered. Based on a country's answers and other sources,
the EC gives its opinion and recommendations on the country's
ability to become a candidate for EU membership. Current candidates
were given questionnaires on some 150 pages and a deadline of three
months to prepare answers.
So far, the Council has usually accepted the Commission's opinions
and recommendations, but there have been cases to the contrary. For
example, in 1976 the Commission gave a negative opinion about the
Greek application, but the Council dismissed it and talks on full
membership with Athens started the same year.
The Council can also grant a country candidate status but postpone
talks on membership until further notice, as has been the case with
Turkey.
The procedures experienced by the current 13 candidates, of which
ten are to become full members on May 1, 2004, differ significantly.
Turkey submitted an application in 1987, and was granted candidate
status in the meantime, but a date for the start of talks on full
membership has not been determined yet.
Cyprus and Malta, which were invited to join the EU next year,
applied for membership back in 1990.
Slovenia waited the least for the start of talks on full membership
- a year and nine months, while Cyprus and Malta waited the most,
eight and nine years.
Of eight former communist countries from Central and East Europe,
Hungary and Poland were the first to submit membership
applications, in 1994, while Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia,
Lithuania and Bulgaria applied a year later. The Czech Republic and
Slovenia applied the last, in 1996.
Following a suggestion by the European Commission in July 1997, the
European Council decided at a summit in Luxembourg in December 1997
to start negotiations on full membership with six countries
(Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and
Cyprus). The talks started in March 1998.
The other six countries (Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Bulgaria and Malta) were given a positive opinion by the European
Commission in October 1999. In December the same year, the European
Council decided at a summit in Helsinki that they should join the
first group, and talks with those countries started in 2000.
At a summit in Copenhagen in 1993, the EU defined criteria which all
candidates for full membership must meet. The so-called Copenhagen
criteria are the political, economic and legal conditions a country
must meet to join the EU. They include the stability of institutions
ensuring democratic order, the rule of law, respect for human and
minority rights, the acceptance of the Union's political
objectives, the functioning of a market economy capable of coping
with competition pressures, and the adoption of the EU's
legal standards (the acquis communautaire).
Apart from those criteria, Croatia will also be requested to
cooperate fully with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague and
make progress in the process of refugee return.
(hina) rml