ZAGREB, Croatia: The European Commission says that Croatia has fulfilled the conditions set for entry will be ready to join the 27-nation bloc as planned on July 1.
The commission approved yesterday its last monitoring report on the Balkan country’s accession process. It says that Croatia has “shown the will and ability to fulfill all outstanding commitments in good time before accession.”
The EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule told the Croatian government in Zagreb that “Croatia’s is a success for enlargement ... a good example for the rest of the region as it moves closer to the EU.” Other Balkan countries are lagging behind in the integration process. Montenegro has opened accession negotiations, but Serbia and Bosnia are yet to start the process, which usually lasts for years.
Croatia will be 28th member of the European Commission following its final entry to the EU membership. But, the accession process of Croatia has not been without hiccups as Slovenia, an EU member state complicated the process by raking up the border issues between the two countries, which the later made it a condition prior to Croatia’s accession to the EU.
It was way back in 2003 when Croatia had formally applied for EU membership, which followed the European Commission’s recommendation a year later for making it an official candidate. The same year the European Council gave Croatia the candidate country status. In October 2005, the entry negotiations, began together with the screening process.
Croatia finished accession negotiations on June 30, 2011 and on Dec. 9, 2011 signed the Treaty of Accession to become the bloc’s 28th member. The ratification process, by the Parliaments of all 27 EU member states, is expected to be concluded by the end of June 2013.
Croatia set to become EU’s 28th member
