CROATIA: EU envoy says Croatia's efforts to join European Union is on track, but complex issues ahead

European Union envoy says while he cannot say when Croatia will be in a position to join the EU, it is on track for future membership. Croatia's efforts to join the European Union are on track but the most complex issues lie ahead, Vincent Degert, the European Commission's envoy in Zagreb said on Thursday (July 19). Speaking to Reuters in an interview, Degert said that following the agreement by EU member states in June to reform the bloc's institutions, there is a clear roadmap for Croatia's accession, but the ball was in Zagreb's court. "We are not distracted any more by the so called crisis in the European Union....And I think it is important also for Croatia to feel reassured that there is a clear road map there and that their accession to the European Union is not put into a question, or depending on this specific uncertainties that we had before," he said. But Degert says the most complex issues still lay ahead - primarily the reform of public administration and the judiciary. "Reform of public administration is one of the key reforms that needs to be thoroughly implemented. Because it is not only enough to have good legislation in conformity with the EU standards if there is not the capacity in the administration to actually apply these legislations in the various fields where they are concerned. So this is a major topic," he said. Croatia opened six new negotiating chapters in June, bringing its number to twelve and moving well ahead of fellow candidate Turkey, with which it started talks at the same time in October 2005. There are 33 negotiating chapters which need to be addressed. A government official told Reuters that Zagreb's aim was to close most chapters next year. Degert says substantive topics are being discussed, but he couldn't say when Croatia would actually be in a position to join the EU. "I cannot look in my crystal ball and tell you when Croatia will deliver on all these topics that I was mentioning. If I look into the numbers that we have on the table today it's a shared effort...I think on the Croatian side we are waiting for Croatia to take actions on 24 of the chapters, whether the ones with benchmarks or the ones without benchmarks, so this is more or less what the workload is on the Croatian side. On the EU side, which is the Commission and the discussion in the Council, we have about 9 chapters where we need to deliver. So, this is about what each of us has to do and has to deliver in the coming weeks and months," he said. Degert said if Croatia addressed all the necessary issues, it was feasible that the country could join the EU before the end of the next government's mandate. Croatia faces a parliamentary election in November.

ITN Source | July 23, 2007

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