The fact that the European Commission in its recent monitoring report has identified some areas in which Croatia should make progress does not mean that Croatia is not or will not be ready for the European Union membership on 1 July 2013, the Commission's spokesman Peter Stano said in Luxembourg on Monday.
The points which we have identified in our document are a working document and a working agenda for Croatia in the next few months when Croatia should invest more efforts to successfully complete all preparations for EU membership, said Stano, in response to questions from the press about statements by some German officials who find Croatia not ready to join the Union.
Stano recalled that in December 2011, all EU member-states signed a treaty on Croatia's accession to the EU, after the country successfully finalised the negotiations and met the set criteria to the satisfaction of all EU members.
To date, more than half the EU member-states have ratified the Croatia-EU accession treaty and Croatia is due to become an EU member on 1 July 2013, said Stano, a spokesman for the EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele.
