The final text of Croatia's accession treaty with the European Union will be finalised by mid-September and will most probably be signed in late November or early December, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her Polish counterpart Donald Tusk announced after their meeting in Warsaw on Wednesday.
Tusk said he would bring the final text of the treaty with him to Zagreb in mid-September when he was expected to agree with Kosor on the date and place of signing the document.
According to tradition, I suggested that Warsaw would be happy to host its Croatian friends on the day of the signing of the treaty, Tusk said.
"That would be perfect. There are many reasons for us to accept it - the friendship between our countries and peoples, the support of the Polish government and PM Tusk in the final stage of the entry talks," Kosor said, adding that another reason was the late Pope John Paul II who was Polish and who "particularly loved Croatia and the Croatian people".
Noting that the treaty would definitely be signed by the end of Poland's EU presidency, Tusk said that the signing could take place at the end of November or the beginning of December because of other events scheduled for December, such as a climate summit, a meeting of the European Council and Christmas holidays.
Tusk said that Poland's experience showed that EU membership brought only benefits, that it was not just a political plan or a big diplomatic game, but that it was in the vital interests of people from a given country.
We support Croatia on its path to the EU and believe that everything will go as planned, Tusk said. He added that Croatia was a regional leader and the best example that the European perspective was open to the countries of Southeast Europe.
Kosor expressed hope that, after the signing of the treaty, the remaining stages of integration - a referendum on EU entry in Croatia and ratification of the accession treaty by the parliaments of the member states, would make it possible for Croatia to join the bloc on July 1, 2013.
Kosor said that Poland was a great model to Croatia. Poland joined the EU on May 1, 2004, after 56 per cent of Poles voted in favour of EU membership at a referendum, and today over 70 per cent of them are satisfied with the membership.
"Those facts show us the direction we should be going in order to be fully prepared for membership," the Croatian PM said.
Speaking of links between Croatia and Poland, Kosor mentioned the late Pope John Paul II, who she said was specially worshipped in Croatia, and the two countries' Christian roots.
"When we completed the negotiations, I said that Croatia would protect and promote its Christian roots, and that's one of the reasons why Warsaw would be a good place for signing the treaty," Kosor said.
Over 90 per cent of Poland's 39 million inhabitants identify themselves as Roman Catholics.
Kosor thanked Polish experts for training Croatian officials in the use of EU funds, noting that in the first six months of membership Croatia would have at its disposal 130 million euros for agriculture alone.
According to figures given by the Croatian prime minister, trade between Croatia and Poland increased by 24 per cent in the first three months of 2011, and this year 18 per cent more Polish tourists visited Croatia than last year when their number reached 400,000.
