European Forum

Croatia tackling last challenges on the way to EU membership

The Croatian EU accession talks have entered the final phase as the country has opened all negotiation chapters and closed two thirds of them, making it possible to finish accession talks in the first half of 2012. On 27 July Croatian and EU negotiators closed Chapter 12 (Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy) and Chapter 32 (Financial Control). On 1 August Slovenia and Croatia reached an agreement over Nova Ljubljanska Banka, allowing the Ljubljana-based bank to operate in the neighbouring country and speed up Croatia’s entry into the European Union.

“We have agreed on the process of how to solve this difficult issue,” Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor stated after a meeting with his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor. He added that “this should remove one of the last breaks in Crotia’s EU-accession process.” Both stressed that Ljubljanska Bank case was as important as the settlement of the two countries’ border dispute. Pahor and Kosor expressed conviction this long-standing dispute over Croatian clients’ foreign currency savings deposits in Ljubljanska Banka and banks’ operating in Croatia would be resolved within two months.

At the end of June of this year Croatia made a major step towards EU membership as it opened the final remaining chapters in its accession talks. The most significant and challenging of these is Chapter 23, which covers the judiciary and fundamental rights.

Croatia is in a position to became the 28th EU member state, before Iceland. “Everything is now in Croatia’s hands” a senior EU official said, expressing the view that Croatia will join before the Union before Iceland. Zagreb has special relations with Iceland as it was the first country in the world to recognise Croatia’s independence in 1991.

Source: Waz.euobserver, Ekonom and BIRN