The European Commission's Progress Report on Croatia, which was released on Tuesday, leaves the door open for accession negotiations with Croatia to conclude in the first half of next year, said Gunnar Hoekmark, a European People's Party member of the European Parliament and co-chairman of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee.
"Although the Commission has abandoned the policy of issuing calendars for candidate and prospective candidate countries, this year's report on Croatia seems to indicate that Croatia's aim to conclude EU membership negotiations in the first half of 2011 is not unfounded. As a close follower of the Croatian accession process, I would personally like to see the Accession Treaty with Croatia signed during the Hungarian Presidency," Hoekmark said in a statement.
He pointed out that Croatia's negotiations were more demanding that those conducted by countries that had joined the Union in previous enlargement rounds.
"It would be a mistake to compare Croatia's enlargement process with that of previous enlargement rounds. The nature of negotiations changed with the introduction of benchmarks clearly defining a number of crucial criteria and thereby putting stronger demands on the negotiations," Hoekmark said.
Ulrike Lunacek, a Greens member of the European Parliament and the European Parliament's rapporteur on Kosovo, also commented on the Commission's report.
"The example of Croatia clearly shows that the efforts of individual countries, as well as a collective EU effort, are worth it. However, the accession countries must clearly step up their efforts to tackle corruption and organised crime," Lunacek said.
