The statement also reads that the EU has noted that Croatia is not abiding by its obligations from Article 60 of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement which regulates the sale of real estate to EU citizens.
Under the said article, after the expiry of a four-year transitional period on 1 February 2009, Croatia should equate the rights of its citizens and EU citizens to buy real estate.
The EU has called on Croatia to implement relevant regulations in a nondiscriminating fashion and remove the backlog of requests by EU citizens to speed up the procedure for all, it is noted in the statement, which also reads that Croatia has underlined that it implements relevant laws and procedures in line with its obligations from Article 60 of the SAA in a strict and nondiscriminating fashion.
Croatia has been requested to adopt without delay programmes to restructure its steel and shipbuilding sectors.
The Stabilisation and Association Council has confirmed that Croatia has generally met its obligations from the SAA, the statement said.
The Council has also noted that Croatia has a functioning market economy and encouraged it to continue with the progress made in meeting economic criteria. It has also encouraged Croatia to step up the restructuring and privatisation of companies from the Privatisation Fund portfolio and major state-owned companies.
Further efforts to ensure an environment without corruption and to significantly modernise the land registry
are of vital importance for attracting direct foreign investments, reads the statement.
The Council also welcomes Croatia's positive role in regional cooperation and its active role in transforming the existing network of bilateral free trade agreements into a regional free trade zone based on the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).
Asked to comment on differences in the interpretation of the regulation on the sale of real estate to EU citizens, Croatia's Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic told reporters after the Council meeting that Croatia was not discriminating and would not discriminate against EU citizens and that it was acting in line with the principle of reciprocity. She added, however, that Croatia's administrative capacity was not satisfactory and that the procedure of processing individual requests would be simplified.
She also stated that Croatia was willing to invest maximum effort in the reform of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and the provision of media freedoms.