Croatia completes EU accession negotiations

Croatia completed the EU accession negotiations process on Thursday and should become the 28th EU member state on July 1, 2013.

Izvor: B92

Friday, 01.07.2011.

14:06

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Croatia completed the EU accession negotiations process on Thursday and should become the 28th EU member state on July 1, 2013. Croatia will thus become the second country of the former Yugoslavia to join the EU, eight years after applying for candidacy and after six years of accession negotiations. Croatia completes EU accession negotiations On the last day of Hungary’s EU presidency Croatia closed the last four chapters and formally completed the accession negotiations and will join the EU in 2013, after the accession contract is ratified. Croat President Ivo Josipovic said at the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) summit in Montenegro that Croatia had primarily proven to itself that it had capacity and political will to implement one of the most challenging reforms in history. “Croatia is your partner and friend and I am asking you to remember that with our fully-fledged membership in the EU you will get a member that will never get tired of advocating enlargement and inclusion policy that will allow inclusion of all the countries of the region in the Union. Croatia will not use open bilateral issues as any kind of pressure in the pre-accession negotiations,” he explained. Croatia will sign the accession contract at the EU summit. A referendum will be held afterward and contract ratification process in all EU member states will follow. Croatia needs to pay an EU membership fee worth EUR 267mn from July 1 until December 31, 2013 and will be able to withdraw EUR 800mn if it prepares high-quality projects. Croatia will also have to pay EUR 22mn for administrative costs. However, an important question at Croatia’s political scene is who will sign the EU accession contract. Josipovic believes he is competent to decide who will sign the contract while Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has said several times that she will be the one to sign it, Croatian media have reported. Slovenia was the first former Yugoslav country to join the EU in 2004. Montenegro got the candidate status last year but still has not received a date for the beginning of the accession negotiations. Montenegrin government, however, is convinced that it will fulfill all recommendations that the European Commission gave last fall by July 31. (Beta)

Croatia completes EU accession negotiations

On the last day of Hungary’s EU presidency Croatia closed the last four chapters and formally completed the accession negotiations and will join the EU in 2013, after the accession contract is ratified.

Croat President Ivo Josipović said at the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) summit in Montenegro that Croatia had primarily proven to itself that it had capacity and political will to implement one of the most challenging reforms in history.

“Croatia is your partner and friend and I am asking you to remember that with our fully-fledged membership in the EU you will get a member that will never get tired of advocating enlargement and inclusion policy that will allow inclusion of all the countries of the region in the Union. Croatia will not use open bilateral issues as any kind of pressure in the pre-accession negotiations,” he explained.

Croatia will sign the accession contract at the EU summit. A referendum will be held afterward and contract ratification process in all EU member states will follow.

Croatia needs to pay an EU membership fee worth EUR 267mn from July 1 until December 31, 2013 and will be able to withdraw EUR 800mn if it prepares high-quality projects. Croatia will also have to pay EUR 22mn for administrative costs.

However, an important question at Croatia’s political scene is who will sign the EU accession contract. Josipović believes he is competent to decide who will sign the contract while Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has said several times that she will be the one to sign it, Croatian media have reported.

Slovenia was the first former Yugoslav country to join the EU in 2004. Montenegro got the candidate status last year but still has not received a date for the beginning of the accession negotiations. Montenegrin government, however, is convinced that it will fulfill all recommendations that the European Commission gave last fall by July 31.

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