In the pre-accession monitoring the European Commission has pointed to some remaining deficiencies which it detects. The Commission has clearly defined them and those are concrete tasks set for Croatia. From our point of view, it is a positive way of being active as clear criteria will help in meeting and ensuring the real conditions of accession. We are confident that Croatia can meet them within the stated time frame, the German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said at his regular press conference on Friday. The government cited his statement on its web site on Saturday.

The spokesman made this statement in a response to a question whether Croatia's accession to the European Union, set for 1 July 2013, was unconditional and what could happen if no progress was made in the meantime and whether EU governments would one more time vote on whether Croatia could join the Union in the event of failure to meet the requirements.

Seibert emphasised that Croatia was being integrated into the EU on the basis of a much stricter procedure and stricter monitoring than what was the case for the previous newcomers.

Therefore there are a multitude of reports and the mention of deficiencies even in the run-up (to the admission) which could be viewed as the final lap before the finish. The German government finds it correct and well-functioning, he said.

The spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, Andreas Peschke, said that the aim of the mechanism of the pre-accession monitoring was to remove in a timely fashion the existing deficiencies and to make Croatia able to successfully enter the EU.

If some unexpected things appear in the (next) summer report, then we will have to discuss them then. Now we start from the position that the agreed process would contribute to Croatia's efforts to remove the deficiencies, which are clearly defined as things that can be removed, Peschke said.