FRANCE:Rejection of the treaty is putting a brake on the Balkan nation's EU membership, writes Jamie Smyth in Avignon, writes Jamie Smyth
CROATIAN FOREIGN minister Gordan Jandrokovic has warned it will be politically very difficult for Croatia to join the EU as planned in 2010 unless Ireland can ratify the Lisbon Treaty.
But he said yesterday he was confident the Government and its European partners would solve the problem caused by the Irish No vote before Zagreb finished its accession talks.
"It is legally possible for Croatia to become a member not only with the Lisbon Treaty but also with the amendments of the Nice Treaty," Mr Jandrokovic told The Irish Times. "But politically it is very hard to reach such an objective and, because of that, we hope that the EU will find a solution or mechanism to allow Croatia to become a member."
In an interview at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Avignon, Mr Jandrokovic warned against EU states holding Croatia's proposed membership of the EU hostage because of the Irish rejection of Lisbon on account of its impact on the unstable Balkan region.
"It is not good for southeastern Europe that Croatia become a hostage of this situation," he said. "We respect the will of the Irish people. At the same time, we hope that this decision will not be an obstacle for Croatia to become a member of the union."
Croatia is one of three EU candidate countries - Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are the others - that is reforming its laws and institutions in preparation to join the union. Most analysts expect it to conclude negotiations with Brussels in late 2009 in preparation for becoming the union's 28th member in 2010.
But Germany and France are insisting there will be no enlargement of the union until the Lisbon Treaty is implemented. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner repeated this position to journalists at the Avignon meeting, declaring "No Lisbon, no enlargement" when asked about Ukraine's prospects of becoming an EU candidate state.
Mr Jandrokovic said EU membership was the main objective of Croatia's foreign policy because of the security, stability and development it would offer its citizens.
He was confident the EU and Ireland would find a solution to the Lisbon dilemma to enable Croatia to join because it was in the wider interests of Europe, he said.
"I firmly believe that next autumn the EU will find a solution. It is not only important for Croatia but also for the union. We live in a very complex situation in the east and south of Europe and with new powers such as India and China emerging. There is no time for Europe to lose the possibility for it to be the strongest player on the international scene."
Mr Jandrokovic said Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader would shortly visit the Republic. He said he would say Croatia deserved to be an EU member as it was historically part of Europe and intent on finishing its internal reforms.
Mr Sanader would say, "We respect you, we understand you, but help us to become a member of the EU", said Mr Jandrokovic.