The European Parliament on Thursday approved by a vast majority of votes Croatia's Treaty of Accession to the European Union, paving the way for its signing next week.
Participating in the vote at today's plenary session were 634 MEPs, of whom 564 deputies voted in favour of the treaty, 32 abstained, and 38 voted against.
On Monday the Council of the EU is expected to give its official consent for Croatia's Treaty of Accession, which will then be signed on December 9, just before a summit of the European Council.
The European Council will be in session for the first time with 28 countries attending, with Croatia having observer status.
After today's vote, all members of the European Parliament started applauding, stood up and turned towards the gallery where a delegation of the Croatian Parliament was sitting.
Apart from approving the accession treaty, European parliamentarians also voted in a non-binding resolution in which they express confidence that the positive results of the reform process will strengthen the support and trust of Croatian voters in the country's EU membership and call on Croatians to support the accession treaty in a referendum and on EU member countries to complete the process of its ratification in time.
The resolution welcomes the completion of Croatia's EU talks, underlining that work has still not been completed and that Croatia should continue with reforms.
The resolution was voted in with 550 votes in favour, 34 against and 41 abstentions.
