ZAGREB – Croatia is certain it will complete its European Union entry talks by the end of July, its chief EU negotiator, Vladimir Drobnjak, told parliament yesterday.
Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers said they were waiting for a report by the European Commission on the progress of the talks before deciding whether to finalise negotiations and set an entry date.
Croatia has yet to close talks in five out of 35 chapters. Among those are the two toughest – judiciary and competition policy.
“We have very good chances to complete the talks in June. If not in June, then surely a few weeks after that, in July,” Mr Drobnjak told the Croatian parliament. He expects to agree an accession date in June and to sign the accession treaty during the Polish EU presidency in the second half of the year, he said. Mr Drobnjak was the first government official to give a firm target date.
Some EU member states have expressed doubts about the extent to which Croatia has implemented judicial reforms. At this week’s meeting, some EU capitals said they wanted more proof that anti-corruption reforms had gone far enough to combat pervasive abuse. France has proposed that a monitoring mechanism be imposed to check whether Croatia has kept up its compliance with EU criteria, but Austria and other members oppose the idea. – (Reuters)