Slovenian foreign ministry hesitant at pace of Croatian EU reforms

Croatia’s readiness to join the EU has been partly questioned by Slovenia, current holder of the rotating EU presidency.

While welcoming the possible future accession of Croatia, Matjaž Šinkovec, state secretary at Slovenia’s foreign ministry, said that Zagreb needed to “proceed faster” towards meeting the necessary conditions for EU membership.

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Šinkovec told this website, “It may take some time, but I believe all the western Balkan countries should eventually join the EU and Nato.

“This is in the interests of both the EU and the countries concerned. However, I would like to see the tools, or mechanisms, for EU entry to be upgraded, or enhanced, in order to help facilitate this.”

He added, “The EU should try to be as helpful as possible towards Croatia but, at the same time, Croatia itself has to proceed faster than it has done so far in meeting the conditions for EU membership.”

But Croatia’s foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic told this website that he was optimistic about meeting conditions for EU membership, although he admitted that his country faced an uphill struggle.

“It will be hard work but I believe we will be ready by 2010,” he said.

Šinkovec and Jandrokovic  were speaking at an event organised by Hans Seidel Stiftung, a leading German think-tank, and the Brussels-based centre for European studies.

Veteran German MEP Ingo Friedrich, a member of parliament´s influential bureau, told the audience, “After the decision in Bucharest at the weekend to admit Croatia to Nato, it seems logical for me that it should also join the EU.

“The EU needs Croatia as much as Croatia needs the EU.”

French deputy Alain Lamassoure said, “Croatia´s progress towards membership by 2010 is going well but, of course, this is a matter now for the commission.”

Turning to other countries in the region, such as Serbia and Macedonia, which also entertain hopes of joining the 27-member bloc, Lamassoure, a former French minister, was less optimistic.

“Countries such as these need to settle their own national problems and resolve their own political status before they can enter into accession negotiations,” he said.

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