ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - Croatia has drawn closer to the European Union after receiving an exceptionally positive opinion from the European Commission on Tuesday, and must continue along this road as the only way of achieving its
final goal: full membership of the European Union, the head of the European Commission delegation in Zagreb, Jacques Wuenenburger, said on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - Croatia has drawn closer to the European
Union after receiving an exceptionally positive opinion from the
European Commission on Tuesday, and must continue along this road as
the only way of achieving its final goal: full membership of the
European Union, the head of the European Commission delegation in
Zagreb, Jacques Wuenenburger, said on Wednesday.#L#
The opinion is exceptionally positive and confirms that the efforts
taken by Croatia have yielded fruit. At the same time, it is also an
encouragement to all others to continue down the same road in order to
achieve their final goal, Wuenenburger told a press briefing at the
delegation's headquarters.
Comparing Croatia to some other transition countries, the European
Commission representative said that it had moved very fast in the
process of integration with the EU. He added that the present position
of Croatia, after receiving the opinion, was much better than that of
Bulgaria or Lithuania, which took years to be officially declared as
free market economies.
Wuenenburger said that the pace at which Croatia would be moving
towards the EU depended on Croatia itself, adding that the country was
yet to solve the outstanding issues relating to judicial reform, the
return of refugees, the media and other issues cited in the opinion.
In other words, we have made an assessment of the progress made so
far, but we have also included the obligations the Croatian government
has assumed and we expect it to meet them. It is a process and we will
continue monitoring that process closely, he said.
Speaking of the European Partnership for Croatia, a document listing
short- and medium-term priorities in meeting the requirements from the
acquis communautaire (the entire body of European laws), Wuenenburger
said the European Commission expected the Croatian government to
respond to it by preparing a programme for the adoption of European
legislation that would clearly define which laws should be passed or
amended and who would be responsible. He added that the European
Commission would judge Croatia's progress on the basis of these two
documents.
Asked if he believed that Croatia would be given candidate status for
EU membership and possibly a date for the start of entry talks at an
EU summit in June, Wuenenburger responded in the affirmative.
We have recommended that and I hope that the Commission's opinion will
result in candidate status, he said.
(Hina) vm