Croatia's EU accession talks are proceeding at the expected pace, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic said in an interview with the Austrian news agency APA on Thursday.
We believe that wrapping up the talks during the Hungarian EU presidency in 2011 is realistic, Jandrokovic said, adding that the most difficult negotiating areas were those concerning the judiciary and competition policy.
APA quoted Jandrokovic as saying that he believed Croatia should join the EU in 2012 and recalling that the European Commission had also mentioned the year 2013.
The goal is to sign the Accession Treaty in the first half of 2011. After that follows the process of ratification in the member-countries. We believe that that process won't take longer than a year. I believe it is realistic, the Croatian minister said.
Jandrokovic also spoke in the interview about the problem of corruption, saying that over the last year and a half Croatia had launched a merciless anti-corruption campaign.
He also dismissed as unfounded doubts about the capabilities of the Croatian army, saying that Croatia, as a NATO member, had the reputation of a reliable partner participating in a number of peace missions.
He would not speak of time frames for the privatisation of the country's shipbuilding sector, saying only that he believed the process would be more successful than it had been so far.
