Croatia has entered the last mile of its accession negotiations with the European Union, which are likely to be wrapped up somewhat later than planned, and the whole accession procedure could be completed in 2012, Belgian Ambassador to Croatia Marc de Schoutheete de Tervarent said on Thursday.
The diplomat gave a talk on united Europe at Europe House in Zagreb on the first day of Belgium's six-month EU presidency.
He said the signing of the accession treaty with EU member countries was swift but that its ratification in national parliaments required a lot of time, about 18 months.
The whole procedure could be wrapped up in 2012, said De Tervarent.
Croatia yesterday opened the remaining three chapters in its EU entry talks in Brussels, closing two, and is now very close to completing the negotiations and signing the accession treaty. Croatia now has all 33 negotiation chapters open, of which 20 have been provisionally closed.
De Tervarent said strong political will would be necessary for closing the Competition Policy chapter, which requires cutting subsidies to shipyards, and the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights chapter, which requires court independence, fighting corruption, protecting minority rights, and full cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal.
Croatian politicians are in a hurry to wrap up the negotiations and have strong reasons for that, because elections are coming and membership involves a lot of money, De Tervarent said, recalling that Croatia would have EUR 3.5 billion at its disposal in the first two years of membership.
He added, however, that EU membership was more than access to European funds and that citizens wanted to know what it would mean to them personally.
EU membership should not be considered as access to funds. It is a political decision by citizens to give up part of their sovereignty, he said, adding that the competitive environment in the EU encouraged strong and not weak members.
