This is very important, Croatia is on course to become the 28th member and the monitoring report should not be interpreted in any other way. I want to assure the European parliament and the Committee on Foreign Affairs that pre-accession monitoring will be an effective mechanism that monitors not only progress but will also be an effective new tool that will make sure that Croatia joins as the 28th member, as a country that fully meets its commitments, said Fuele.
The Croatian government can deliver on these ten tasks and I am sure it will not miss this opportunity. I commended their determination when, after the previous report, they drew up an action plan with a number of concrete steps that needed to be undertaken. I hope the same will be done based on this comprehensive monitoring report, that our spring report will only ascertain that progress has been made in these ten issues. I want to be as clear as possible on this, Fuele said responding to MEP's questions.
German Christian Democrat Bernd Posselt and Slovenian Liberal Ivo Vajgl expressed concern that some critical tones in the report could serve as an excuse to stop the ratification of Croatia's accession treaty.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ran a front page article today saying Croatia does not meet the membership requirements. It cited the ten tasks which the European Commission identified in its monitoring report and said must be fulfilled in the next few months.
The daily said the member countries had not addressed the report yet but cited "diplomats" in Brussels mentioning measures which the European Commission might recommend to the Council of the EU, ranging from post-accession monitoring to delayed accession. The daily said this latter option "is not being considered for now."
Responding to a question about Ljubljanska Banka's debt to Croatian savers and the ratification of Croatia's accession treaty in the Slovenian parliament, Fuele voiced confidence the job would be done in time.
The Commission continues to encourage Croatia and Slovenia to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue. We welcome the renewed engagement by the two sides to find a solution. At the same time, we are confident that all member countries will ratify in time the accession treaty they signed on December 9 so that Croatia can become a member on 1 July 2013, said Fuele.