Croatia has made a huge step towards EU membership with the greenlight from Brussels to join the bloc in mid-2013 and this move will turn a new page in Croatia's history, France Presse news agency reported.
The news from the European Commission about recommending to the Council of the EU to close the last four policy chapters in the negotiations has come at a time when Croatia is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its independence and 16 years after the war, France Presse said, adding that many hope that the greenlight for Zagreb after six years of negotiations will reinforce reconciliation in the region.
"Croatia cleared a hurdle on its path to European Union membership on Friday, with the EU executive recommending its accession talks be finalised and an entry date set for mid-2013," Reuters news agency said.
Croatia "still has to convince all of the EU's 27 governments that it is ready to join, particularly that its efforts to combat corruption have gone far enough," the British agency added. "But many capitals have said they would agree to wrap up the talks if the European Commission judged Zagreb has done its job."
The Washington Post, The Australian and The Wall Street Journal also reported that the European Commission on Friday proposed to the EU Council of Ministers to close the remaining four policy chapters in Croatia's EU accession negotiations, paving the way for Croatia to become the 28th member in the European bloc on 1 July 2013.
Serbian news agency Tanjug reported that Zagreb had meticulously calculated that "this thorny road of negotiations with the EU has lasted five years, eight months and seven days. To date, because a decision on the end of the negotiations will be made at the EU countries' summit on 23-24 June."
Austrian news agency APA said that the negotiations with Croatia had been the longest and most demanding yet, recalling that the talks were opened in October 2005.
The European Commission's decision is bringing this long journey to a conclusion, APA said.
Deutsche Welle said that the long process of negotiation had turned many Croats into Euro-sceptics. However, Zagreb is enthralled with the announcement of the date for its admission to the EU, it added.
International news agencies noted that Croatia would be the second state of the former Yugoslavia to join the bloc after Slovenia, which joined in 2004.