Everything is going as we have expected and we believe that the door is open for us to achieve our final goal and that is to conclude European Union accession negotiations and to get an entry date, Croatian foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic said in an interview with the commercial television network RTL on Thursday, commenting on a meeting of the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) held in Brussels earlier in the day.
The meeting heard that the European Commission needed a little more time to assess whether Croatia was ready to wrap up its accession negotiations and that it still expected from Zagreb some explanations and materials regarding the fulfilment of the closing benchmarks.
Commenting on reports that some EU countries had reservations about Croatia being admitted to the EU, Jandrokovic said: "Discussions have been going on for months... However, Croatia has made a huge effort and progress in the last few weeks and months, so that now we have reached a final stage. These are final decisions and after them there are no more calculations, so it's normal that everyone is a bit cautious now."
"Progress monitoring will not be conducted after Croatia enters the EU. It will not be such that it will in any way prevent us from achieving our goal nor will it be an obstacle first to the conclusion of the negotiations and then to the ratification process," the foreign minister said.
"The government of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor will continue doing what is necessary for us to provide sufficient proof that no additional, intensive monitoring is needed. Our goal is clear: we want to become a full member in 2013," Jandrokovic said.
Jandrokovic announced that he would be attending a meeting of foreign ministers from the European People's Party (EPP) on Sunday. "I will inform them of everything Croatia has done. Things will develop at a certain pace, we believe that everything will be all right in the end."
