The EP Committee on Foreign Affairs will discuss the amendments on February 18 and vote on them the next day, after which the draft resolution will be put to the vote at an EP plenary session in April.
The resolution represents the EP's position on the Comprehensive Monitoring Report on Croatia's preparedness for European Union accession released by the European Commission last October. The resolution is not legally binding.
The amendments range from those calling on EU members that have not yet ratified Croatia's EU accession treaty to do so as soon as possible, to Slovenian MEPs' calls for highlighting more strongly Croatia's obligation to solve bilateral issues with its neighbours, to the position that a bill on strategic investments is not in accordance with European standards, to condemnations of statements against the LGBT population by Catholic Church representatives, and to calls that Croatia be monitored even after joining the EU.
Germany's Franziska Katharina Brantner and the Netherlands' Marije Cornelissen of the Greens group submitted the highest number of amendments - 14.
Romania's Monica Macovei of the European People's Party says in an amendment that "corruption remains a serious issue in Croatia and that crime, corruption and mismanagements... are reported to have reached the amount of EUR 11.3 billion between 2001 and 2010."
She calls on the EU "to establish, in cooperation with Croatian authorities, a post-accession monitoring mechanism to evaluate the track record of at least conflict of interest, corruption and organised crime cases as well as the implementation of the judiciary reform action plan."
The EU has a mechanism for monitoring Bulgaria and Romania since their accession but it has proven to be highly ineffective, so the Union decided not to apply it anymore but insist that each new member must join completely ready.
Monitoring was imposed on Croatia until the time of accession to make sure that it joins the EU completely ready and there is no longer any possibility to impose post-accession monitoring.
In his amendment, Slovenian Liberal Ivo Vajgl calls "on the Croatian authorities to remain vigilant in ensuring that human rights are fully respected, while combating all forms of discrimination and acts of intolerance against national minorities, migrants, LGBT persons and other minority groups."
He notes that "some statements and activities of the Catholic Church in Croatia do not enhance European standards and respect of different minorities, whereas some of the Church's highest representatives in the country regularly make use of language that openly calls for intolerance towards LGBT persons."
Brantner and Cornelissen are "concerned that the proposed law on strategic investments is not in line with European standards" and call on the Croatian government and parliament "to revise it with a view to better protecting fundamental rights, notably property rights, and the environment."
Brantner and Cornelissen call on member countries not to limit "the access of Croatian workers to their national labour markets... more than absolutely necessary."
Roucek submitted a dozen amendments, calling in some, on Croatia to complete the ten specific tasks singled out in the European Commission's Comprehensive Monitoring Report last October.