Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-20-Speech-2-322"
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"en.20040420.16.2-322"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to express my immense pleasure and gratification that the great ideal of European unity has once again exerted its powerful appeal. Yet again, we see that it is the prospect of European integration and membership of the European Union that is the most powerful force driving forward the process of political and economic reform in a country which, until recently, was being torn apart by war, civil war and violence.
My friend and colleague Chris Patten has already spoken about the political criteria. I would like to add a few words about the other, equally important, accession criteria. First of all, there is the issue of Croatia's economic performance. The question is whether the country meets the requirements of a market economy as we expect it to do and whether it has the capacity to cope with competitive pressure within the internal market. The findings of our analyses are very clear and very gratifying: Croatia is already better placed than most of the countries joining on 1 May at the time when their accession negotiations opened. Croatia can already be regarded as a functioning market economy, and provided that the policies of economic reform are continued, it should be able to cope with competitive pressure within the internal market in the medium term. The Croatian economy is already very strongly intermeshed with the economy of the European Union and is clearly outperforming the economies of Bulgaria and Romania, for example, whose accession is envisaged for 2007. From the economic perspective, we therefore see no problems or risks arising if accession negotiations are opened with Croatia.
As regards the extremely difficult criterion concerning progress in adoption and implementation of the Community
: by their very nature, my comments can only be a prospective assessment. After all, adoption of the
is the subject of the negotiations, not the prerequisite for their commencement. Nonetheless, our prospective assessment for Croatia is very positive, and we believe that Croatia will be able to undertake the necessary legislative alignment in all chapters of the
within the medium term
while at the same time strengthening the structures that are necessary for its genuine and effective implementation. Here, Croatia will rely on our help, and it goes without saying that the Commission is prepared to grant Croatia the same support and advice that it has provided over the last few years to the countries which are due to accede on 1 May. Here too, then, our assessment is positive.
As regards the next steps, as Mr Patten has already said, it is a matter for the Council to decide whether and when the accession negotiations will open. Before these negotiations can formally begin, a comprehensive screening exercise needs to be undertaken. This entails a full review of the entire
and the extent to which it has been adopted and implemented in Croatia, so that we know exactly what needs to be covered in the negotiations. In other words, this is a normal procedure which is likely to take some time. Only then can the negotiations on the various chapters begin. A tailor-made pre-accession strategy will also have to be developed for Croatia, and the Commission is already dealing with this.
As regards timing, my advice would be that it is premature to talk about timetables at this stage: we should not take the second step before the first. The pace of the process will depend on Croatia's capacity and determination to achieve real progress, both during the preparation and in the negotiations themselves. The Commission will assess progress fairly and objectively and will measure the progress of the negotiations on this basis. I believe that the Commission's recommendation sends an important and powerful signal not only to Croatia but to the entire region. It shows the other countries in the region which, for a variety of reasons, still have a long way to go before they come close to fulfilling the criteria, that intensive efforts pay off and that the European Union responds appropriately to the efforts of a country wishing to join the EU, and recognises that country's achievements."@en1
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