STRASBOURG, April 20 (Hina) - The European Commission (EC) on Tuesday recommended opening negotiations with Croatia on the country's full membership in the European Union.
STRASBOURG, April 20 (Hina) - The European Commission (EC) on Tuesday
recommended opening negotiations with Croatia on the country's full
membership in the European Union.#L#
The EC recommends opening negotiations on Croatia's admission to the
EU, the EC says in its opinion, the so-called 'avis', published after
today's session in Strasbourg.
A very positively worded document reads that the chief prosecutor of
the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla del Ponte, stated this
month that Croatia was now fully cooperating with the tribunal.
"Croatia needs to maintain full cooperation" with the tribunal and
take necessary steps to ensure that the remaining indictee is
discovered and transferred to The Hague, reads the avis, in which the
name of the runaway General Ante Gotovina is not mentioned.
The document further reads that Croatia should make additional efforts
in the area of minority rights, refugee return, judiciary reform,
regional cooperation, and the fight against corruption.
The EC quoted in a statement its president Romano Prodi as saying that
"Croatia has made major efforts to advance along the road to EU
membership" and that the EC acknowledges that progress and therefore
recommends that the European Council start accession talks with
Croatia.
In the avis, the EC analyses Croatia's membership application on the
basis of its ability to meet the Copenhagen criteria and the criteria
from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
With regard to political criteria, it is stated that Croatia has a
functioning democracy with stable institutions which guarantee the
rule of law.
With regard to economic criteria, it is concluded that Croatia can be
considered a functioning market economy.
"It (Croatia) should be able to cope with competitive pressure and
market forces within the Union in the medium term, provided that it
continues implementing its reform programme to remove remaining
weaknesses".
As regards the ability to take on obligations arising from EU
membership, Croatia can achieve that goal in the medium term if it
makes great efforts to adjust its legislation to that of the EU
(acquis communautaire) and ensure its implementation, reads the
document.
The only area where adjustment will not be possible in the medium
term, but rather in the long term, is environmental protection, which
requires major investments.
In order to help Croatia prepare for the accession talks, it will be
necessary to make a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the level
of legislative adjustment. The EC also recommends that the EU draw up
an accession strategy for Croatia and prepare necessary proposals in
that regard, reads the avis.
In addition to the avis, the EC also published the European
Partnership for Croatia, a draft document identifying priorities in
preparations for admission to the EU.
After the end of the EC session at which the final text of the avis
was agreed on, the commissioners for external affairs and enlargement,
Chris Patten and Guenter Verheugen respectively, handed the avis to
Croatia's Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul and European Integration
Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.
The EC forwards the avis to the European Council (EU heads of state or
government), which makes the final decision on a country's candidate
status and a date of the start of accession talks.
The European Council is expected to decide about Croatia's status at
its next meeting, to be held in Brussels on June 17 and 18. The
decision on granting a country candidate status and setting a date for
the start of negotiations requires the consensus of all
member-countries. By the next session of the Council, the EU will have
25 member-countries.
The avis is a document by which the EC evaluates, at the request of
the Council of Ministers, a country's ability to start negotiations on
full membership and take on obligations arising from EU membership.
Croatia's membership application was analysed according to the same
criteria as those of other candidate countries.
The document is an overview of Croatia-EU relations and analyses the
situation with regard to the fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria -
political (democracy, rule of law, human rights, protection of
minorities); economic (market economy, ability to cope with the
pressure of competition from the EU); it also analyses the country's
ability to assume membership obligations, i.e. adopt the acquis
communautaire, and in its conclusion offers a final assessment of the
country's prospects of meeting membership criteria, with a
recommendation regarding the start of negotiations.
(Hina) rml