ZAGREB, Dec 28 (Hina) - The submission of an application for full membership in the European Union and of answers to the European Commission questionnaire are doubtlessly the two most important events in relations between Croatia and
the European Union in 2003.
ZAGREB, Dec 28 (Hina) - The submission of an application for full
membership in the European Union and of answers to the European
Commission questionnaire are doubtlessly the two most important events
in relations between Croatia and the European Union in 2003.#L#
The Croatian government set an ambitious goal of joining the EU in the
next enlargement round in 2007, with Bulgaria and Romania.
Former Prime Minister Ivica Racan presented the membership application
to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis in Athens on February 21,
Greece being the EU chair at the time.
Croatia is the only one of five South-East European countries covered
by the Stabilisation and Association process which has applied for EU
membership.
Two months after the application was submitted, on April 14, the EU
Council of Ministers in Luxembourg answered to Croatia's application,
giving the European Commission the mandate to define its opinion on
Croatia's ability to become a candidate.
EC President Romano Prodi personally presented former Prime Minister
Ivica Racan with the questionnaire in Zagreb on July 10.
The document, containing 4,560 questions, was divided into three
chapters - on political and economic criteria and on the degree of
adjustment of domestic legislation to the EU's legal standards.
Several days before the expiry of the deadline for the submission of
answers, on October 9, Racan personally submitted 7,000 pages of
answers to EC President Prodi.
The EC announced that its opinion on Croatia's application would be
ready by the end of March next year, and the European Council should
decide about Croatia's candidacy at a summit in June, at the end of
Ireland's presidency. Croatia stands a realistic chance of becoming an
EU candidate next year and starting negotiations on full membership,
provided that it meets the set criteria. This primarily refers to full
cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and the
return of refugees.
The job of bringing the country closer to the EU next year has been
taken over by the new government, headed by Ivo Sanader, who has said
that there will be no changes with regard to Croatia's strategic
priorities - membership in the EU and NATO.
During 2003 most EU countries ratified the Stabilisation and
Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the EU. Four countries
are yet to do so - Italy, Finland, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
The Finnish parliament has ratified the SAA, but the ratification will
take effect only after a decree is signed by the Finnish president,
which is expected to happen by the end of this year. The process of
ratification is almost completed in Italy, while Great Britain and the
Netherlands are making ratification conditional on the transfer of
retired general Ante Gotovina to the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague.
It is still unclear what will happen if the process of ratification of
the SAA is not completed by May 1 next year, when ten new members will
join the EU. Several months ago, the press asked the EC in Brussels in
writing if in that case the SAA would also have to be ratified by the
parliaments of those ten countries. The EC has not answered the
question to date.
(Hina) rml