EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said on Friday he was confident that Croatia would meet the remaining membership requirements and join the European Union on July 1, 2013 as planned.
"I am confident about the readiness and capacity of the Croatian government to deliver on the outstanding issues so that Croatia is ready to enter the EU on the 1st of July next year, as foreseen in the Accession Treaty," Fuele told a group of members of the Bundestag during their meeting in Berlin.
Fuele said on his website that he had met with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and visited the German parliament to exchange views with parliamentarians dealing with enlargement from all political sides.
He discussed the preparedness of Croatia for EU entry as well as the progress achieved in the accession process by other countries of the Western Balkans.
Fuele "explained the monitoring process which is in place to make sure that Croatia completes its preparations for the EU membership on time and enters the Union ready to take over all responsibilities and obligations of a full-fledged member."
He recalled that in the negotiations with Croatia, "the Commission introduced several new elements, one of them being the strengthened focus on establishing the track record and implementation of reforms necessary to fulfil the criteria for membership."
"The lessons learnt from this process are now being applied in the negotiations with Montenegro in the framework of the new approach to tackle very early in the process the chapters dealing with fundamental values and principles of the EU such as freedoms and rule of law," Fuele underlined.
During his talks with Westerwelle, Fuele highlighted the importance of the credibility of the accession process. "The key priority for us is to maintain the credibility of the accession process and to strengthen it by making sure that the aspirant countries deliver on the necessary criteria and commitments," he said.
Fuele and Westerwelle discussed the EU enlargement process and exchanged views ahead of a European Council meeting due in December when EU leaders will decide on membership candidates and potential candidates based on the progress reports issued by the European Commission last month.
