Accession of Croatia to the European Union

Croatian EU accession bid Status Candidate Opened chapters 28 Closed chapters 15 Website eu-pregovori.hr EU Croatia PPP GDP ($bl.) 14.712.000 87,272 Area (km²) 4,324,782 56,542 Population 497,198,740 4,453,500

Croatia applied for European Union membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004. Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council in mid-2004. The entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005, began in October that year together with the screening process.

The accession process of Croatia was derailed several times due to the Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum, and then later by the insistence of Slovenia that the two countries' border issues are dealt with prior to Croatia's accession into the EU.

Despite the logistical problems, the accession of Croatia is strongly supported by current EU member states. Recent polls however have shown that less than half of Croatians would vote to join the EU.^[1]

Issues of dispute

Croatia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Croatia

Constitution President (incumbent: Stjepan Mesić) Parliament Speaker (incumbent: Luka Bebić) Assembly Government Prime Minister (incumbent: Jadranka Kosor) Political parties Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Social Democratic Party (SDP) Elections President: 2005 Parliament: 2007 Counties (Županija) Foreign relations EU accession

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ICTY cooperation

The flag of Croatia and the European flag, on the building of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European integration, in Zagreb

Croatia has had to extradite several of its citizens to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), an issue that was often contentious in domestic politics.

Croatia's relations with the court had continuously been cited by the EU officials as something that required further improvement. Ratification of the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Croatia had been stalled because of this.

The European Council, after its summit of December 20, 2004, set the following March 17 as the date to start entry negotiations, provided that Croatia continued to cooperate fully with the ICTY. On March 16, 2005 – the day before talks were to begin – the EU postponed the commencement of negotiations, because the ICTY prosecution assessed the Croatian efforts to capture the fugitive general Ante Gotovina (indicted by the ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but at large since 2001) as neither timely nor sufficient.

On December 7, 2005 Spanish Police finally arrested Ante Gotovina with the help of the Spanish and Croatian government on the Spanish island of Tenerife, located in the Canary Islands. He was brought to The Hague to be tried for war crimes. With the arrest of Ante Gotovina this issue seems to be now resolved, and entry negotiations have begun anew, after the certification of ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that Croatia now fully cooperates with the ICTY.

Border disagreements

Croatia must also contend with long-standing border issues with Slovenia. Good trade relations have precluded this up to late 2008^{[citation needed]}. In September 2009 it was announced that Slovenia would remove restraints on Croatia's negotiations with the EU without prejudice to the international mediation on the border dispute.^[2] In addition, Croatia has border disputes with Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro. In December 2008 Croatia and Montenegro agreed that the outstanding sea border issue between the two countries should be settled before an international court whose decision would be accepted in advance by the parliaments of the two countries.^[3]

Land ownership

Free acquisition of real estate by foreigners is a sensitive issue in Croatia. This matter particularly concerns Italians, especially in Istria. While it has strong cultural and historic ties with Italy, the events surrounding World War II, when Istria changed hands between the Kingdom of Italy and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, are more pertinent to the current issues. Numerous Italian politicians have expressed their discontent concerning the current inability of Italians to purchase land in Croatia, considering it discriminatory treatment, and stating that this issue should be resolved as soon as possible.

Croatia denies discrimination, indicating that Croatian legislation provides for the same treatment of all EU citizens concerning this issue. In mid-2006 Croatia and Italy agreed, and now Italian citizens may purchase land in Croatia, and Croatian citizens may purchase land in Italy. The same kind of measures, concerning this issue, have been employed by many new EU member countries before their own accession to the EU. Examples of this include Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, and especially Malta.

Negotiation progress

² Including anti-discrimination and equal opportunities for men and women.

Timeline

Possible accession dates

In June 2006, the EU officials projected that the accession of Croatia would likely happen in 2009 or 2010. The closure of negotiations for all chapters of the acquis communautaire is expected in 2009, while signing the Accession treaty would happen in the months afterwards. Before starting negotiations with Croatia, the acquis was divided into 35 chapters, 4 more than the previous 31; the new chapters, previously part of the agricultural policy and judiciary, are complex areas - their division into a few smaller chapters is meant to enable more efficient and expedient negotiations.

Originally, Croatia had been aiming for a 2007 accession date—such an accomplishment would have broken Slovakia's record of 2.5 years of negotiations to complete the process. It has been remarked by Olli Rehn that the EU does expect a similar speed from Croatia.

On 25 April 2007, the European Parliament congratulated Croatia for making "rapid progress" towards membership, but stated that "it must make further efforts in areas such as cooperation with the ICTY, reform of the judiciary and the transition to a market economy".^[5] Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) also stressed the need for a new institutional framework for the EU by 2008 in order to accommodate Croatia. Austria and the Czech Republic predict Croatia will be ready for EU membership by 2009.^[6] Lech Kaczyński, President of Poland, also supported Croatia's accession by 2009.^[7] As of January 2008, negotiations are expected to be concluded by the end of 2008 with MEPs giving approval the following year before the 2009 election. A likely accession date after that would be 2011.^[8]

On 6 March 2008, Krister Bringeus, the Swedish Ambassador to Serbia, was quoted as saying that Croatia and Serbia were likely to join the EU together between 2012 and 2015.^[9] This comment caused considerable controversy until the Swedish government suggested that the remarks had been misreported and the Ambassador to Croatia, Lars Fredén, restated Sweden's position that it would aim to conclude negotiations during its presidency of the EU in 2009.^[10]

On 13 March 2008, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, stated that Croatia could conclude negotiations in 2009 and join the EU as early as 2010, after the country suspended a dispute over fishing that it had with Slovenia.^[11][12]

In June 2006, commissioner Rehn stated that there will be no further enlargement of the European Union in this decade other than the 2007 accessions of Bulgaria and Romania, due to the impasse in EU treaty reform following the rejection of the European Constitution in France and The Netherlands. Nevertheless, Croatia will probably be the "first to meet all necessary conditions" and, therefore, be "the next country on the list", according to Rehn.^[13] German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy are blocking further enlargement of the EU unless reform are in place with Lisbon Treaty been ratified. For the Lisbon treaty to come into force, all EU members must ratify it.

Ireland did not ratify the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum on the proposed Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland held on 12 June 2008. The referendum was needed as significant changes were made in previous EEC/EU Treaties that affect Irish Foreign Relations and Ireland's sovereignty status, and according to the constitution under the 1987 Irish Supreme Court decision, any significant change to the SEA requires permission from the Irish people in the form of a referendum, as it was determined that the Irish state's power to determine its foreign relations was held in trust from the people and could not be alienated by the government. The Treaty of Lisbon amends the SEA.

After the Irish referendum^[14], in June 2008 President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany stated that the EU will not expand beyond 27 states without reform of the current Treaty of Nice rules even though the treaty allows for such an enlargement. The Treaty of Lisbon would reform the EU, but was stalled in the ratification process, pending a second Irish referendum and ratification by Poland and the Czech Republic. In October 2009, Ireland approved the treaty following the second referendum, followed by ratification in Poland, and after that in the Czech Republic.

Croatia's immediate accession prospects are unclear, while the French and German governments promote the view that institutional changes for more efficient decision processes are essential for further enlargement, states such as the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic argue that the existing framework is sufficient.^[14]

On 5 November 2008, the European Commission's annual progress report on Croatia's candidacy was published. Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn stated that the country should complete accession negotiations by the end of 2009, with membership following by 2011 at the latest.^[15]

In 2009 it was reported that Iceland may be fast-tracked into the European Union.^[16] Rehn said that "the EU prefers two countries joining at the same time rather than individually. If Iceland applies shortly and the negotiations are rapid, Croatia and Iceland could join the EU in parallel," probably in 2011.

Croatia's application could be derailed due to a border dispute with Slovenia over the Bay of Piran which had earlier threatened Croatia's application with NATO which only went through after Slovenia backed down, EU has called off the next round of talks and have not given a new date "subject to positive development" in negotiations between the two countries over this issue.^[17] In November 2009, negotiation was resumed after Jadranka Kosor signed an agreement with Borut Pahor, that set up a new framework for the resolution of the border dispute. Nevertheless, at least six months had been lost due to the blockade.

See also

• Slovenia’s blockade of Croatia’s EU accession
• Foreign relations of Croatia
• Enlargement of the European Union

References

Further reading

• Jović, Dejan (April 2006). "Croatia and the European Union: a long delayed journey". Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans 8 (1): 85–103. doi:10.1080/14613190600595598. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cjsb/2006/00000008/00000001/art00006. 

External links

• Official website - Negotiations for the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union
• Official EU-website concerning enlargement
• BBC News: inside Europe: EU enlargement

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