Joining EU in 2012 only 'theoretically possible'

Croatia’s successful entry is a key to opening the European integration for the rest of the Western Balkans, says Swoboda.

The parliamentary reporter for Croatia, Hannes Swoboda, said Wednesday in Brussels that the Croatian entry into the EU on January 1, 2012 is only theoretically possible because one year is exceptionally short time for ratification of the accession treaty and is therefore likely that Croatia will enter the mid-2012 or the beginning of 2013.

- If the goal to finish the negotiations by the end of the 2010 is achieved, then theoretically it would be possible for Croatia to join at the beginning of 2012. But it will be difficult to achieve this because ratifying the contract in one year would be huge task, and therefore the entry could be shifted to the middle of the 2012 or the beginning of 2013 - Swoboda said at a news conference after the Foreign Policy Committee of the European Parliament adopted its draft resolution on the progress of Croatia.

Swoboda believs that Croatia could complete the negotiations by the end of this year and that access agreement could be signed at the end of this year or early next year.

In preparing the financial package for the first two years, The European Commission created a plan based on the assumption that Croatia would join in January of 2012.

- If Croatia is determined to continue reforms to strengthen public administration and judiciary, negotiations can be finished in 2010. We encourage Croatia to fight strongly against corruption and to fully cooperate with the ICTY, to allow access to all documents required for trial for war crimes - said Swoboda.

Croatian entry is a signal for the countries in the region

He stressed that the success of the Croatia is extremely important for other countries in the Western Balkans who want to join the European Union.

- Successful Croatian entry is a key to open the European integration for the rest of the Western Balkan region - said Swoboda.

Similar thoughts were voiced by the democratic representative from Germany, Bernd Posselt.

- Croatian entry will send a positive signal to countries in its neighborhood - Posselt said in a statement.

'I am convinced that Croatia is well on its way to remove the remaining delay'

- If things continue to unwind in the current pace, we all expect, this will be the last progress report that we have on the table -  said Posselt.

Posselt also expressed satisfaction over the rejection of the amendments on the ‘Serbo-Croatian’ language.

A representative from Bavaria commented on yesterday's statement made by the Chief Hague Prosecutor Serge Brammertz in the foreign policy committee.

- I am convinced that Croatia is well on its way to remove the remaining holds that Brammertz may have  concerning the country's efforts to respond to a request from the prosecutor's office - said Posselt and warned Brammertz not to "misuse his role in a political way as his predecessor, Carla del Ponte, did. "