Commissioner Füle on accession process with German parliament
"I am confident about the readiness and capacity of the Croatian government to deliver on the outstanding issues so that Croatia is ready to enter the EU on the 1st of July next year, as foreseen in the Accession Treaty," Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle said to the a group of members of Bundestag in Berlin today. Commissioner Füle visited the German parliament to exchange views with parliamentarians dealing with enlargement from all political sides. He was discussing the preparedness of Croatia for EU entry as well as the progress achieved in the accession process by other countries of the Western Balkans. "I am glad to see discussions about enlargement in the member states and their parliaments because this allows them to take the necessary decisions on how to proceed in the accession process with individual partner countries, so that at the end of this process we have new members who strengthen the EU and don't weaken it," he told the members of Bundestag.
On Croatia, Commissioner Füle explained the monitoring process which is in place to make sure that Croatia completes its preparations for the EU membership on time and enters the Union ready to take over all responsibilities and obligations of a full-fledged member. He recalled that in the negotiations with Croatia, the Commission introduced several new elements, one of them being the strengthened focus on establishing the track record and implementation of reforms necessary to fulfil the criteria for membership. "The lessons learnt from this process are now being applied in the negotiations with Montenegro in the framework of the new approach to tackle very early in the process the chapters dealing with fundamental values and principles of the EU such as freedoms and rule of law" Commissioner Füle underlined.