The report is part of pre-accession monitoring introduced to make sure the acceding country joins the EU ready, without the need for monitoring after accession. The accession treaty says the Commission will monitor how Croatia is meeting the commitments undertaken during the accession negotiations in the period between the completion of the negotiations and the accession scheduled for July 1 next year.
The Commission says Croatia has continued to make progress in adopting and implementing EU legislation and is now completing its alignment with the acquis, but has identified some areas where "further efforts" are necessary and a "limited number of issues" where "increased efforts" are required.
Further progress is required in preparations for future EU structural funds, the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry, the strengthening of the rule of law through continued implementation of commitments to improve public administration and the justice system, preventing and fighting corruption effectively, and the management of external borders.
The Commission has identified ten issues in which "particular attention should be paid by Croatia in the coming months in the areas of competition policy, judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security."
Those issues are: signing a privatisation contract for the Brodosplit shipyard and taking the necessary decisions to find a viable solution for the 3. Maj and Brodotrogir shipyards in order to complete the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry; implementing the short term measures elaborated in September 2012 for increasing the efficiency of the judiciary and reducing the court backlog; adopting the new enforcement legislation in order to ensure the execution of court decisions and reduce the backlog of enforcement cases; establishing the Conflict of Interest Commission so that it starts working; adopting the new law on access to information in order to strengthen the legal and administrative framework in the area of access to information; completing the adoption of related by-laws to ensure the implementation of the police law; completing the construction of border crossing points at the Neum corridor; achieving the established recruitment target for border police for 2012; finalising and adopting the migration strategy with clearly defined measures for the integration of the most vulnerable group of migrants; and increasing the capacity to translate and revise the acquis so that this task can be completed in time for accession.
In addition, Croatia has the obligation to obtain the European Commission's accreditation of the agency for payments in agriculture by the end of 2012. This agency pays incentives to farmers and submits to the Commission evidence that the funds are being used correctly and only then asks for payment from the European budget.
The Commission says Croatia continues to meet the requirements in the three most challenging chapters stemming from the accession negotiations and that, with additional effort, it can fulfil the remaining commitments by the time of accession.
The report says Croatia did what it had to do in ten chapters and is nearly done in 15, but that "increased efforts continue to be necessary" in the following areas: agriculture and rural development; food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy; fisheries; regional policy and coordination of structural instruments; and in the three chapters on which reports are submitted every six months: competition policy; judiciary and fundamental rights; and freedom, security and justice.
Croatia is invited to participate in the European semester, an instrument for economic policy coordination within the EU, as of early 2013, six months before accession.
The Commission says Croatia continued to meet the political criteria. "In all areas covered by the political criteria (stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities) work has continued and results are becoming tangible."
The final report omits a sentence contained in the draft which said that senior appointments to the police in December 2011 by the outgoing administration had "undermined" the process of police depoliticisation.
With regard to economic criteria, the report says "Croatia is a functioning market economy. Vigorous implementation of urgently needed structural reforms should enable Croatia to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the Union in the near term."