From Zagreb to Brussels: Swoboda on Croatia's EU ambitions
From Zagreb to Brussels: Swoboda on Croatia's EU ambitions
25 Nov 2009
European Parliament
The EU membership hopes of countries such as Croatia, Iceland and Turkey will be raised by MEPs on Wednesday afternoon. Of these, Croatia is held to be first in the queue and is eager to join as soon as possible. The Parliament's rapporteur on Croatia is Austrian Socialist Member Hannes Swoboda. In this interview he explains what Zagreb still has to do to be able to join the European Union.
The former Yugoslav State, Slovenia, joined the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. Croatia, relatively well developed economically, is still knocking on the EU's door. Why is it taking so long?
There was a war in Croatia and in the aftermath of that war there where many problems regarding the return of refugees. Besides, under the government of former president Franjo Tuđman (in office 1990-99) the structures in the country were not very democratic and needed to be reformed. On the other hand, we have to be clear that in comparison with other countries it is high time that Croatia got the chance to join the European Union.
Do you have a timetable in mind for Croatia's accession to the EU?
Full membership could start in 2012. The final negotiations should take place towards the middle of 2010. After that the Parliament has to give its consent and it will need some months to study all the details. Therefore the ratification process can start only at the beginning of 2011. This is only one year and three months away which is a very short time. However, it depends very much on Croatia and its willingness to make the necessary effort.
Next week, Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz (the International Crimes Tribunal for Yugoslavia) is expected to criticise Croatia at the UN Security Council over its cooperation with the Court. If so, the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Finland say they will block Zagreb's accession negotiations. What's the problem and is Croatia's EU future at risk?
Well of course it is a problem. The only conflict is still about documents (which relate to the artillery bombardment of Knin) which the Court needs for the trial of former Croatian General Ante Gotovina. There are different views about whether the documents even existed or if they were destroyed. If the latter is the case it is very hard to deliver them.
Everything has to be done so that the documents are either found or it can be proved that the documents have been destroyed. This is an important issue, but on the other hand the membership should not depend on one element of cooperation because in many others Croatia was cooperating well with Court in The Hague.
Do you think Croatia could be able to deliver the document or the proof that they were destroyed before 3 December?
If they haven't been delivered by now, then I don’t think that they are going to be delivered within the next few days. This would also prove that they were hidden and that they in fact exist. In my report I mentioned a proposal which I took up from Croatia: namely that there should be people from outside Croatia, security and police experts who should help Croatia to find the documents. This could be a clear proof if Croatia is cooperating or not.
Are there other issues standing in the way of Croatia's accession?
Traditional reform in general, including all the element of administration reform, the reorganisation of the courts, privatisation of the shipyards. The major problem is also the fight against corruption.
Specially, for high ranking political corruption....?
Yes. There have been some positive signals, some resignations, some lifting of immunity to show that they take it seriously, but we have to follow that up.
By the time Croatia joins the EU would the border dispute with Slovenia be solved as well?
We hope so. What is important now is that both sides agreed that the border issue should be dealt with immediately after the signing of the accession treaty. This issue is out of the negotiations now. Croatia's parliament ratified the agreement on arbitrage already with a huge majority and hopefully the same will be done in Slovenia. If countries ratify this agreement on the arbitration process then there is no obstacle for the ratification of the accession treaty.
Serbia's Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremić, recently told us that he wants Belgrade to join the EU in about five to seven years. Is it conceivable that Croatia and Serbia and the other Balkan countries could eventually join together at the same time?
No. I cannot imagine that and I don't think it is feasible. Croatia must join as soon as possible. I hope that Serbia will also do everything to join as soon as possible. But they are two different "as soon as possible". The first is very clear before our eyes and for the second there is still a lot of work to be done.
Reference: www.europarl.europa.eu
