My message to the Croatian people is that we keep our promises, Barroso said. On the other hand, we can encourage Croatia to achieve the greatest possible progress and I hope that progress will be made, he said.
The European Commission will meet its obligations if Croatia does its part of the job, Barosso said when asked what would happen if Croatia was ready for EU membership, but the bloc would not be able to admit it due to its internal limitations.
Asked if Croatia could join the EU in 2009, Barroso said he did not wish to be incautious about dates. Croatia is a relatively well developed country and we are aware of the determination of the Croatian government to finish the job as soon as possible, he said. However, I want everyone not to underestimate the difficulties in implementing the acquis communautaire and necessary reforms, Barroso said, adding that this objective seemed very ambitious to him.
In any case, I would like to encourage the Croatian authorities to continue with the process as fast as they can, but at this point I cannot foresee future steps, Barroso said ahead of his first official visit to Croatia.
Barroso is scheduled to arrive in Zagreb later today for an official visit. He is also due to visit Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina
The EC president, who will be accompanied by European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and EU negotiator Michael Leigh, will hold talks with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. Also scheduled is the signing of an agreement on decentralisation of managing pre-accession funds.
I believe that the future of this region is in Europe, Barroso said. We are here to support you and you must make efforts, he added. I am coming to the region to encourage all the countries to draw as close as possible to the EU, the EC president said. It is also very important to show the connection between economic and political cooperation in the region and integration with the EU, he said.
The European Union has always supported and asked of everyone in the region with whom it cooperated to integrate among themselves, that is neither new nor specific for western Balkan countries, he said. That also makes economic sense because it is nonsense to have fragmented markets, he added. The region now has 31 trade agreements, which is very bad for business, Barroso said when asked to comment on the initiative aimed at establishing a free trade zone in the Western Balkans.