With popular prime minister Ivo Josipovic at the helm, most expect EU approval, writes DANIEL McLAUGHLIN
EUROPEAN Union leaders are expected to approve Croatia’s membership bid at a summit starting today, but the Balkan state’s president has said the long-awaited green light will not weaken the pace of reform or the fight against organised crime and corruption.
Ivo Josipovic told The Irish Timesthat Zagreb was not worried about calls from some EU countries to specially monitor its preparations for planned EU entry in July 2013, and that the accession of a second former-Yugoslav state would spur progress and reconciliation in the Balkans.
Slovenia, which was Yugoslavia’s most prosperous republic, joined the EU in 2004 and adopted the euro just three years later.
But Croatia’s bid to follow it was hampered by a failure to overhaul its economy and tackle deep-rooted graft, and to co-operate fully with the United Nations war crimes court.
After six years of often tough negotiations, Croatia is now poised to complete the final chapters of its accession programme and receive clearance to become the EU’s 28th member, and the first of the countries ravaged by the 1990s Balkan wars to reach that shared target.
“We have not made all these reforms just to win approval from the European Union, but to really change our society and set standards that we want to follow. And we must press ahead with further reforms and continue fighting corruption and improving our economy,” Josipovic said.
“It is clear that countries that are not economically strong will struggle in the EU, so we have to lower our [18 per cent] unemployment and simplify our rules to attract inward investment and help motivate foreigners and Croatians to invest here.”
Croatia cleared a big hurdle to the EU when Gen Ante Gotovina – a hero for many of his countrymen – was captured in 2005 after four years on the run and tried at the UN court at The Hague. He was sentenced in April to 24 years in jail for war crimes.
Zagreb has made the most striking progress in its fight with corruption and the mafia, however. In the highest-profile cases, it has charged former prime minister Ivo Sanader and his former deputy Damir Polancec with graft and convicted most of the organised crime figures accused of involvement in the 2008 bomb attack that killed leading editor Ivo Pukanic and a colleague.
“It’s obvious that there has been a big change in the last couple of years,” said Josipovic, who entered office in 2010, a year after Jadranka Kosor replaced Sanader as premier.
“No society is without corruption but it is vital to fight it properly, and now we have mechanisms to do that. There are similar cases in all European states, and all our most important corruption cases are linked in some way to western Europe. But we did have a problem, and we solved it.” Josipovic (53), a law professor and composer, is sure Croats will strongly support EU entry in a constitutionally required referendum, and that the process will not be derailed by incidents like the violence aimed at the first gay parade in the country’s second city of Split earlier this month.
“What happened in Split was shameful,” he said. “But this kind of problem is not just Croatian – it is a European problem that we must tackle together.” Josipovic’s popularity rating hovers around an exceptional 80 per cent, but most of the criticism that has come his way has found fault with his willingness to seek reconciliation with Serbia and to acknowledge atrocities committed by Croatian forces during the 1990s conflicts.
“Croatia was a victim of aggression but it’s definitely time for reconciliation. Part of it is recognising mistakes and war crimes, and our citizens also deserve a safe neighbourhood
and to have friends. That is part of our European policy, and we want to help our neighbours join the EU.
“We and Serbia still have many people missing from the war, and their families need to know what happened.
“We have to prosecute war criminals and we co-operate well with Serbia on that. It is good for all humanity that [former Bosnian Serb general] Ratko Mladic has been captured. But we still need to find Goran Hadzic – this is very important for Croatia.” Hadzic is the last war crimes indictee from former Yugoslavia to remain at large. The ethnic-Serb is accused of involvement in a host of atrocities against Croats, including the 1991 Vukovar massacre. Josipovic said he believes Belgrade “is doing everything it can to find him”. Josipovic dismisses fears that Croatia’s EU accession could be postponed or face difficulties from any special monitoring.
“Our society has changed and we are clearly going in the right direction,” he said. “I think 2013 really does means 2013.”