Croatia's EU entry is a good sign for Croatia and for the region to which Croatia can be a role model, European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said in Zagreb on Monday.
I am confident Croatia will join the European Union on 1 July 2013. This will be to the benefit of the region as well because Croatia could serve as a role model to those countries, Fuele said at a news conference he held after talks with Croatian state officials.
Commenting on the cooling of Serbia's relations with Croatia following a recent ICTY acquittal of Croatian generals charged with war crimes, Fuele said this was "an important issue".
I have said that reconciliation was a long-term process and it is important that families of the victims find peace, Fuele said, adding that he was confident that politicians of both countries could find a solution and help calm emotions to the benefit of the entire region.
Fuele said Croatia's judiciary would benefit from documents the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague had gathered.
Asked about the Ljubljanska Banka issue as a possible obstacle to Slovenia's ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty, Fuele said it would be premature to comment on this issue, as experts were still discussing it.
During his visit to Zagreb, Fuele held talks with top Croatian officials about the closure of Croatia's preparations for EU membership. He met President Ivo Josipovic, Parliament Speaker Josip Leko, First Deputy Prime Minister and foreign Minister Vesna Pusic and Deputy PM for Interior, Foreign and European Policy Neven Mimica.
Fuele and Croatian PM Zoran Milanovic talked about meeting ten priority measures stated in the European Commission's latest monitoring report. Milanovic said Croatia would meet all its obligations on time and Fuele stressed it was critical for Croatia to remove any possibility of the continuation of the monitoring process once it joins the bloc.
Fuele and Milanovic also talked about the use of EU funds. Croatia asked the application of the N+3 regulation, namely that it be given three additional years to realise projects after the contracts were signed, the government said in a statement.
Croatia needs this time to get entirely acquainted with it, PM Milanovic said, recalling that European Council President Herman Van Rompuy had included in the draft of the EU budget Croatia's request that it be given additional years to realise projects to be financed with EU funds.
Our goal is to absorb at least 70 percent of the funds and we are working hard to achieve that objective, he said.
