The Hungarian Presidency continues to strive to conclude discussions with Croatia by June, Minister of State for EU Affairs, Enikő Győri said, reassuring her hosts in Zagreb, on 28 April 2011; after conducting discussions with Chief Advisor to the Croatian Prime Minister Davor Stier and Foreign State Secretary for European Integration Andrej Plenković.
The Presidency and Croatia both aim to conclude accession negotiations with the European Union, in the first half of 2011. However, Zagreb still needs to do everything in its power to fulfil all the required conditions on time. This was the conclusion of Enikő Győri’s discussions on 28 April. The Hungarian State Minister and her interlocutors, Chief Advisor to the Croatian Prime Minister Davor Stier, and Foreign State Secretary for European Integration Andrej Plenković,reviewed the current issues of Croatia’s accession negotiations, which has now reached the final stage. The parties have agreed that the successful completion of Croatia’s accession negotiations can be a favourable sign for the entire West Balkan area.
Enikő Győri and her Croatian interlocutors discussed tasks in relation to the five open negotiation chapters. They paid particular attention to the two most complex issues: competition policy and the chapter on judiciary and fundamental rights. In the field of competition policy, the privatisation of state-owned ship factories must be brought in harmony with EU regulations on state funding. The key issues of the chapter on judiciary and fundamental rights are: the enhancement of the jurisdiction’s independence and expertise, the return of refugees, speeding up the prosecution of war crimes and fight against corruption.
At the discussions, Enikő Győri stressed that Member States have closely observed the Croatian government’s performance in key issues, noting some progress is required. The Minister of State reminded her interlocutors that Croatia has to seek full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Davor Stier and Andrej Plenković confirmed: Croatia appreciates the Hungarian Presidency’s active participation in the matter of accession negotiations, and the Zagreb government is firmly committed to fulfilling all the remaining tasks by mid-May.
Croatia’s accession negotiations began on 3 October 2005. Out of 35 negotiation chapters, 30 have been temporarily concluded, two of them – regional policy and agriculture and rural development – on 19 April. At the press conference, following the decision in Brussels, Foreign Minister János Martonyi said, “I am feeling much more optimistic now, then compared to how I felt a few weeks ago”. The Hungarian Foreign Minister underlined, the success of Croatia points way beyond its own borders, and the closing of the accession negotiations would strengthen the credibility of the enlargement process, so the entire West Balkans and the whole EU would benefit.
Previously, evaluating the first three months of the Presidency at a press conference in Brussels, on 14 April, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, “I cannot dramatise the situation about enlargement, because the situation is dramatic enough”. Mr Orbán said that since the middle 1990s, he has never seen such a drop in the support for enlargement. “We keep hitting walls and facing tactics, playing for time,” Mr Orbán said, adding that Central Europe’s most important task in the upcoming period will be to remind Europe, it would be in further trouble, if the economic crisis was more serious and deeper; and if the enlargement process of recent years had not taken place.
At the European Parliament’s plenary meeting on 16 February 2011, MEPs adopted a resolution on Croatia’s progress with a large majority. According to the document, accession negotiations with Croatia can be concluded in the first half of 2011; provided that the candidate country carries out the necessary reforms.
(www.eu2011.hu)
