The European Commission has given the go-ahead for Croatia to become the 28th member of the European Union, a landmark decision that critics say has more to do with politics than real reforms inside the Balkan state.
ANDREW WILLIS| EUOBSERVER
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday (10 June) that the moment was right to close the four outstanding ‘chapters’ in Croatia’s EU accession negotiations. The decision paves the way for Croatian accession on 1 July 2013.
"I would like to applaud the Croatian authorities, in particular the current government, for their hard work over the last years," said Barroso.
The commission chief said his institution had "negotiated hard but fair" over the past six years of talks, "applying strict conditionality and making sure that all EU criteria and benchmarks are fulfilled".
EU member states still need to make their final evaluation before negotiations can be officially concluded, a move expected to be made on 21 June. But this is now considered to be a formality.
Croatia is then expected to sign an EU accession treaty this autumn, before the question of EU membership is put to Croatian citizens in a referendum a few weeks later. All 27 current member states will also have to ratify the treaty.
EU enlargement commission Stefan Fuele said Croatia had changed "tremendously" during the six years of EU accession negotiations, morphing into a "mature democracy based on the rule of law and into a functioning market economy."
But critics say Zagreb’s reform efforts have been far from sufficient, warning that it is too early for the former Yugoslav country of 4.5 million citizens to join EU.
Full article you can read on: http://euobserver.com/9/32474
