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EU Relations with Croatia in 2005

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EU Relations with Croatia in 2005 Mediterranean Politics | Turkey-Balkans EU Relations with Croatia in 2005 Visnja Samardzija EU, Privredni vjesnik, special issue. July the EU as well as on its positive and ne- Head of the European Integration 2005.), Croatia looks well prepared as gative consequences. Panorama Programme seen from the organisational point of Institute for International Relations, view. However, a lot of work remains to Zagreb be done. Croatia’s Preparations for Negotiations The start of negotiations on the Euro- Key Developments in 2005 The scheduled opening of accession 2006 pean Union (EU) membership was the negotiations was postponed by the most important achievement of the Cro- The Stabilisation and Association Agre- Council in the absence of the common Med. atian Government in 2005. Croatia is the ement (SAA) between the EU and Cro- agreement. Negotiations did not start first Stabilisation and Association Pro- atia entered into force on February 1st, as envisaged in March 2005, due to in- cess (SAP) country that started nego- 2005. It provides the legal framework for adequate level of cooperation with the tiations with the EU and therefore this relations with the EU. Consequently, International Criminal Tribunal for the event was also important for the region. first meetings of Stabilisation and As- former Yugoslavia (ICTY). With the pur- It could motivate the other countries to sociation Council and SA Committee pose to mobilise all efforts to fulfil the re- 138 follow the example and build stable de- were held in April and July 2005, while maining criteria, the ad-hoc Task Force mocratic structures, capable of mee- the first meeting of the EU-Croatia Joint has been established on 23rd March to ting the membership criteria. Croatia is Parliamentary Committee took place in examine the progress of Croatia’s coo- also a Mediterranean country with very Zagreb in March. Seven subcommitte- peration with the ICTY. It prepared the strong Mediterranean identity and its es have replaced the former five sub- Action Plan, defined in six points in or- steps towards EU membership could committee structure of Interim Agree- der to make progress regarding the ful- help Croatia to play the bridging role in ment. The meetings confirmed that filment of this particular condition. linking the Central, Eastern and South- Croatia has implemented a significant The final decision to start negotiations eastern Europe with the Mediterranean part of the obligations envisaged by the was brought on October 3rd (Council basin. SAA, although stronger efforts will be ne- decision, IP/05/1222), based upon a Reaching the level of internal readiness eded in the area of competition policy positive report of the main prosecutor for the EU integration by the end of and supply of services. and the ad-hoc Task Force. The nego- 2007 and full membership in 2009 is a In 2005, several important strategic do- tiations have been opened with the bi- target of Croatian Government. The ob- cuments for the EU Accession were lateral intergovernmental conference jective is to become fully prepared to as- adopted. The third National Program- and started with screening. It is the for- sume all membership rights and obli- me for Integration of the Republic of mal process of analytical examination gations and to successfully take position Croatia into the EU was confirmed by the of the EU legislation and standards, their of a new member state. Croatian Go- Croatian Parliament in January 2005, explanation to Croatian authorities and vernment estimates that it might need as the main strategic document for brin- assessment of Croatia’s level of prepa- less time for negotiations than the for- ging the political, economic, legal and ration for opening negotiations in each mer candidates, having in mind the administrative system in line with the particular chapter. In 2005, the explo- achieved level of preparations combined EU standards. The second Pre-acces- ratory part of screening covered seven with the possibility of using the already sion Economic Programme 2006-2008 chapters (Science and Research; Edu- existing knowledge, experience and the (PEP) was adopted by the Croatian Go- cation and Culture; Public Procurement; institutional memory of the previous en- vernment in December, followed by the Market Competition; Free Movement of largement. Communication Strategy . The aim of the Services; Free Movement of Capital; According to the opinion of Olli Rehn, Communication Strategy is to inform Agriculture). The procedures and prin- member of the European Commission Croatian wider public on all relevant is- ciples of negotiations were agreed on the responsible for enlargement (Croatia & sues regarding Croatia’s accession to first meeting of the Intergovernmental EU-CROATIA RELATIONS. CHRONOLOGY PRIOR TO 2005 October 2001: Signing of EU-Croatia Stabi- April 2004: The European Commission finali- December 2004: The European Council esta- lisation and Association Agreement (SAA). zes its positive report on the application of Croatia blishes 17th March 2005 as the starting date [COM (2004)257 final]. The European Part- for negotiations on condition that there is com- March 2002: Interim Agreement of the SAA nership for Croatia that accompanies the Com- plete collaboration of the Croatian government comes into force whereby agreement provi- mission’s report identifies the short and medium with the International Criminal Tribunal for the sions regarding trade and transport are term priorities in preparation for accession. Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Croatia and the other applied. http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/croa- countries having a SAP agreement must comply tia/pdf/cr_croat.pdf with a series of conditions that were not essen- February 2003: Croatia is the first country tial for previous candidate countries: regarding with a SAP (Stabilization and Association June 2004: The European Council confirms rights of minorities, return of refugees, regio- Process) agreement to apply for EU mem- the status of Croatia as a candidate for acces- nal cooperation and complete collaboration bership. sion. with the ICTY. Conference (Brussels, 28th November explicitly underlined in pre-accession vernment to speed up its structural re- Panorama 2005), and the programme of scree- documents of former candidates, it could forms. ning for 2006 was adopted. be understood as the outcome of the ex- The Pre-accession partnership [COM Regarding the EU conditionality, the periences of the previous enlargement. (2005) 556 final] accompanied the Pro- most significant progress was achieved The European Commission prepared gress Report. on December 7th, when the former ge- the first Progress Report for Croatia on neral Ante Gotovina, accused by the November 9th [SEC(2005)1424]. Re- 2006 ICTY,was arrested in the Spanish Ca- garding the EU political criteria, the Re- Implementation Bodies for the nary Islands and was transferred to The port states that Croatia “faces no ma- EU Accession Med. Hague. Thus the final remaining condi- jor difficulties” in meeting them. Progress tion for negotiations, full cooperation has been made in the field of the judi- Croatia made preparations for negotia- with the ICTY, was fulfilled. ciary and in regional cooperation; the tions before they were formally opened: position of minorities continued to im- the main negotiating structures were es- prove. However, progress in implemen- tablished in late 2004 and 2005; the EU Steps Towards Negotiations tation of key laws has been slow. Cro- Chief Negotiator and the Head of the Na- 139 atia can be regarded as a functioning tional Delegation have been nominated. The Negotiation Framework with Croa- market economy and should be able to Negotiators for particular chapters were tia was adopted by the European Coun- cope with competitive pressure and appointed and the negotiating groups cil in June 2005 and it confirmed that the market forces within the Union in the were set up to deal with all 35 chapters. objective of negotiations was acces- medium term, provided that it continues The Ministry for European Integration sion. The substance of negotiations was with the reform programme. was merged with the Ministry for Fo- broken into negotiation chapters. Ho- Croatian economy has achieved a con- reign Affairs in 2005, thus establishing wever, the EU legislation was divided into siderable degree of macroeconomic sta- a single coordinating body for the pro- 35 instead of 31 chapters. The Nego- bility with low inflation and a stable ex- cess of the EU integration. tiation Framework envisaged the possi- change rate; significant budget and Regarding the establishment of nego- bility of considering transitional periods, current account deficits have been re- tiation structures and bodies, the Cro- derogations, specific arrangements or duced. Major macroeconomic indica- atian Parliament adopted the Statement permanent safeguard clauses. Nego- tors place Croatia far at the helm of the on the joint Activities of the Government tiations will be based on Croatia’s own SAP countries, but also in mid-range of and the Parliament; Declaration on the merits and their pace will depend on the new member states, with the GDP Fundamental Principles of Negotiations; Croatia’s progress in meeting the re- per capita of 6,220 euro. State inter- and Decision on the Establishment of a quirements for membership. The pro- ventions in the economy are still signi- National Committee for Monitoring the gress will be measured by compliance ficant and limited progress has been Negotiations
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