Croatia has a real chance to wrap up its accession negotiations with the European Union by June 2011, Austria's permanent representative to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Wolfgang Petritsch, told Austrian news agency APA on Wednesday.
The signs are very favourable. Of course, we don't know which external factors will come up that could prolong things, Petritsch was quoted as saying, adding that his impression was that the Croatian government was taking this issue very seriously.
He does not believe that the issue of former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who is in jail in Austria and is wanted in Croatia for corruption, could affect Croatia's EU accession.
I think the Sanader case shows that something is being done. When one talks about corruption, one can see that concrete things are being done, Petritsch said, adding that holding objective and professional proceedings was important, particularly for the strengthening of EU-Croatia ties.
He said there were doubts in some EU countries, such as the Netherlands, about further EU enlargement.
No exception will be made in Croatia's case and Austria should continue helping, he said.
Austria must constantly support the European integration process. Croatia's accession is an important step in that, he said, adding that a joint EU accession of the countries in the region was not realistic.
Croatia is an example of how, after a war, a country can develop well in a short time, he said.
