President Ivo Josipovic on Thursday once again dismissed a possibility of Croatia's EU entry being postponed after July 1, 2013 because of objections recently made by senior German officials.
"I'm not at all afraid that Croatia will enter the EU on July 1, 2013. I categorically state that Germany is our friend and is not going to block us," Josipovic said at an economic forum held as part of the SASO fair in Split.
According to the President, the objections raised in Germany about the accession of Croatia to the EU were "a sign of friendship" and an indication of what Croatia needed to do before joining the bloc. "We will do what we have to," he stressed.
Bundestag Speaker Norbert Lammert of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said about 10 days ago that Croatia was not ready to join the EU on July 1 next year. He was joined in his criticism by the Chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, Ruprecht Polenz (CDU), and the deputy of the opposition Social Democratic Party in charge of European affairs, Michael Roth.
Lammert later said that Croatia should be admitted to the EU as planned provided that it carried out the necessary tasks identified in the European Commission's progress report.
Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said on Monday after meeting with her German counterpart Guido Westerwelle that all problems with Germany relating to the doubts about Croatia's readiness for EU membership had been ironed out.
