Mirel announced negotiations would be opened in Brussels tomorrow on chapters regulating the customs union, entrepreneurship and the industrial policy, and the economic and monetary policy. Croatia has already opened and temporarily closed negotiations on two chapters.
Mirel said Croatia should focus on reforms as the EU settled its own issues.
The years 2007 and 2008 will certainly be difficult, but I am sure that we will succeed and that the European club will be able to welcome a very old European country - Croatia, he said.
Speaking of enlargement, he recalled that the Council of the EU underlined at its December 15 summit that the fifth enlargement round had been successful for both the Union and the entire Europe as it contributed to stability on the entire continent, which Mirel said was the true point of the European project.
He said the last enlargement had boosted economic growth not only in new EU countries but in the entire Europe. EU countries sometimes ignore the fact that enlargement benefits them too and not only new members in terms of economic growth and new jobs, he added.
Mirel said he considered enlargement the EU's most successful foreign policy, and ascribed the decreasing public support in the EU for further enlargement and enlargement fatigue to problems in communication.
Mirel said the EU's biggest challenge in 2007 remained reaching a consensus on enlargement, as concluded by the Council of the EU on December 15.
Further enlargement is closely connected with the fate of the European constitution and institutional reforms within the Union.
For me, accession means accepting that I will share part of the national sovereignty with others, but with the increased number of stockholders rules have to be adjusted, otherwise this will not work out, Mirel said, adding this had been the goal of the draft constitution that unfortunately did not pass.