Croatia confident of meeting EU reform deadline

Croatia’s foreign minister Gordan Jandrovic has said that Zagreb will meet a key June reform deadline allowing the country to progress towards EU entry in 2010.

Jandrovic, in Brussels on Tuesday for talks with EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, told journalists that Zagreb would meet the summer deadline on completing 11 pre-negotiation ‘benchmarks’ set by Brussels as a condition for EU entry negotiations.

“We are ready to do it and we will do it,” he said of the June target date.

Jandrovic also said that in talks with Rehn he had emphasised Croatia’s readiness to do whatever it takes to meet the EU’s criteria for full membership and to join the bloc in 2010.

“I am pleased with the fact that last week the EU advised that the opening benchmarks have been met in three chapters and that Croatia has been invited to submit their negotiating position on these chapters.

“We consider this to be the first visible sign of a more dynamic negotiating process and are encouraged by commission president Barroso’s statement, following his meeting with Croatian prime minister Sanader, that the commission will this autumn produce an indicative timetable for the technical conclusion of negotiations in 2009.”

Jandrovic said 2008 would be a “crucial year in terms of efforts needed to meet the criteria for membership”  and that he hoped to complete two more benchmark chapters by the end of April, and the remainder by the end of the Slovenian EU presidency.

Rehn said he was confident that Croatia could join the EU in 2010, as long as the country met all the benchmarks by June.

“Croatia has good prospects of progress but also plenty of work ahead, particularly on judicial and public administration reform and in the fight against corruption,” said Rehn.

“I hope that Croatia will soon be able to meet the outstanding benchmarks in the negotiations so that some of the more difficult chapters, such as competition policy and public procurement, can be opened.

“Overall, the negotiations with Croatia have been advancing well and I want to congratulate the foreign minister for their success at the Nato summit last week. This is very important for stability and progress in Croatia, in the western Balkans and for Europe.

“If Croatia achieves the necessary results, I am confident that substantial progress in the negotiations can be made this year.

“The rest depends on Croatia meeting the benchmarks,” he added, “Otherwise the technical timetable becomes almost impossible to achieve.”

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