The President of the Senate of France, Jean-Pierre Bel, said on Wednesday that the ratification of Croatia's Treaty of Accession with the European Union in the French Senate was a sign of big friendship which showed that Croatia and France had very close relations.
Yesterday and today are important days, yesterday the Senate unanimously voted in favour of Croatia's EU entry, today I met the Croatian Parliament Speaker. These are signs of the great friendship and close ties our countries have, as well as values that we jointly defend and which Croatia will help defend even better once it enters the bloc, Bel told Croatian reporters after a meeting with Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko in Paris on Wednesday.
The French Senate on Tuesday unanimously ratified Croatia's EU Accession Treaty and the National Assembly is scheduled to hold a debate on it and adopt the treaty on Thursday. The session of the French parliament lower house will be attended by Leko who is also expected to hold talks with National Assembly Speaker Claude Bartolone
Leko said the fact that the French Senate ratified Croatia's EU Accession Treaty at its first session in 2013 was an important message.
"France, (...) which conceived the idea of a united Europe, approached the ratification of Croatia's EU Accession Treaty as a friend. (...) 'Timing' of ratifying the Treaty in France is important from the position of debates in the EU, and it is important for Croatia as well," said the Croatian official thanking France for the support it showed to Croatia during its accession process and the ratification process.
Leko is confident that by opting for this moment to ratify Croatia's EU Accession Treaty, France is sending a positive assessment of Croatia's policy towards the EU and indicating that it considers Croatia's policy towards its neighbours in the region responsible.
France will be the 21st country to ratify Croatia's Accession Treaty. This will also be the last time for the French parliament to make a decision on a country's EU accession by a simple majority as amendments to the constitution from 2008 envisage that future EU enlargements must be decided whether in a referendum or in parliament by a qualified majority.
After France, Croatia's treaty is yet to be ratified by Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany and Slovenia.
The ratification procedure has already been launched in all of these countries but Slovenia where, apart from the Ljubljanska Bank issue the solving of which Slovenia made a condition for the ratification, a political crisis has broken out in the meantime.
The deadline for ratifying Croatia's EU Accession Treaty is 1 July when Zagreb is due to join the bloc.
The European Commission is scheduled to submit its final monitoring report in March. Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands are waiting for this report before they ratify the treaty.
