Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-179"
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"en.20040331.5.3-179"2
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".
Mr President, the Commission very much welcomes the Baltas report. We have analysed it with great attention and interest, and I am glad of the opportunity here to make a few initial comments.
Mr Baltas makes an assessment of important political and economic issues such as minority rights, refugee returns, cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, reform of the judiciary, freedom of the media, regional cooperation, economic and structural reforms – issues that are at the top of the our agenda at every meeting with the Croatian authorities. Although the report is destined for the Council, the Commission has taken a particular interest in it and would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Baltas and the European Parliament for this interesting assessment of Croatia.
At this stage the Commission is still preparing its 'Opinion on Croatia’s membership application', which we hope to adopt in the coming weeks. The Opinion on Croatia’s application is based on more than 10 000 pages of information provided by the Croatian Government. We are using exactly the same criteria to evaluate this application as we did with all previous applicants. As in all other cases, political criteria will play a key role in this context, and Croatia must meet them before negotiations can start.
Therefore, today the Commission is not in a position to comment in detail on all the subjects mentioned in the Baltas report. Parliament will receive a copy of the Commission’s Opinion when it has been adopted, it will contain our analysis of whether Croatia meets the Copenhagen Criteria and our recommendation to the Council on whether or not membership negotiations should be opened.
The European Union is a community based on a set of shared values. A country must show that it adheres to them before it can start membership negotiations. Therefore, the assessment in the Commission’s Opinion will focus on whether Croatia respects these values of democracy, respect for the rule of law, human rights and the rights of minorities, which make up the political criteria for EU membership.
The European Commission fully acknowledges the progress made by Croatia in the last few years. The political situation is stable, and democratic achievements have been consolidated. Regional cooperation has been strengthened. The economic situation is improving; growth prospects are good and, more generally, the economic outlook remains positive. Croatia has already started to work intensively in order to align its legislation with European law.
At the same time, a number of important questions remain to be carefully assessed and are currently very closely monitored by the Commission: questions such as cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, refugee returns, respect for minority rights, judicial reform and regional cooperation.
Croatia’s prospects for membership are clear, as they are for all the countries of south-eastern Europe. However, it needs to meet the Copenhagen criteria. Provided it does that clearly and unequivocally, it can expect to progress further towards eventual membership of the European family."@en1
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