European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Croatia could join the bloc by the end of the decade.
After the completion of the fifth enlargement round, namely after Bulgaria and Romania join the EU, an institutional solution must precede future enlargements, Barroso told deputies in the European Parliament during the presentation of the final report on the readiness of Bulgaria and Romania to join the EU by the start of 2007.
Rehn said the EU could solve the issue of its institutional reforms in 2008, before the next candidate country is ready for membership.
While we conduct internal preparations for a new institutional solution, accession processes with Southeast European countries are continuing, Rehn said in the European Parliament. If Croatia, which is most probably the next in line to join, carries out the necessary reforms, it will most probably be ready for membership by the end of the decade, Rehn said in parliament.