EU: Croatia On Right Path, This Is The Final Lap

The Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood policy Štefan Füle has said that is happy to see how Croatia has progressed, although he warned that there is still more work to be done before Croatia’s forthcoming accession to the EU on 1 July 2013.

”It is good to be in Croatia and to see how the country is changing on its way to becoming the next member of the European Union. I had very good talks today with the President, Speaker of the Parliament, Prime Minister, and Deputy Prime Ministers. We discussed our last Comprehensive Monitoring report on completing the preparations for membership and the actions that Croatia must take in order to meet all the outstanding commitments and to be fully prepared in time for accession. Only few months remain to deliver results; this is the final lap,” said Füle after his visit to Zagreb on Monday.

The area Füle said the EU had identified to work on are; competition, the judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, agriculture, the environment, preparations for the structural funds as well as the translation of the acquis.

“I welcome the strong commitment of our Croatian partners to move the process forward. We expect significant progress in the coming months, in view of our next Monitoring Report, to be published in the spring,” said Füle, adding that he was confident that Croatia will make it and will be able to assume the obligations of membership on 1 July next year.