Croatia continues to make progress in its path to EU membership EC report.

By bne IntelliNews October 11, 2012

Croatia has continued to make progress in adopting and implementing EU legislation and in completing its alignment with the acquis prior to becoming a full member in July 2013, the European Commission said in its Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2012-2013 report. The EC stressed that there are areas in which the country has to put further efforts and a limited number of issues, in which increased efforts were required in the following months. It pointed out that these areas include competition policy, judiciary and fundamental rights and justice, freedom and security. The EC said that the country should complete its preparations for the EU accession on time in order for the Commission to be able to reflect the progress on its final monitoring report in the spring of 2013. The EC has also published a Comprehensive Monitoring Report on Croatias state of preparedness for EU membership, in which it assesses the countrys state of preparedness on the basis of the political and economic criteria for membership and of the requirement to adopt and implement the EU acquis. The report stressed that the country continues to meet the political criteria, by adding that in all areas covered it has shown tangible results. Regarding the economic criteria, the reports stressed that Croatia is a functioning market economy. The EC recommended urgent structural reforms, which would enable Croatia to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the EU in the near future. It pointed out that the macroeconomic policy in large was appropriate. The government tried to contain the increasing deficit by cutting expenditures. The central bank succeeded to preserve the exchange rate and financial stability. Regarding the competition policy, judiciary and fundamental rights, as well as justice, freedom and security the reports concluded that the country was generally meeting the commitments and requirements from the accession negotiations in the fields. The EC pointed out that the country has to pay urgent attention to the signing of privatisation contracts for the shipyards in difficulty.

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