engleski

Croatia's preparation for the EU accession

The paper analyses challenges and opportunities of Croatia's integration into the European Union in the light of new instruments that are being introduced to the Stabilisation and Association Process after the Thessaloniki summit. The achievement of candidate status is crucial for Croatia, since the country is facing different needs from those at the stage when the Stabilisation and Association Process was created for the region. The paper approaches the topic from the point of view of external framework and internal preparations in Croatia. The announced introducing of pre-accession elements into the SAP might have a positive impact on future integration of Croatia into the EU. Activating the additional instruments aimed for legal harmonisation based on experiences of candidate countries is the answer to the needs of Croatia that is already deep in the process of legal harmonisation. The effects of European Partnerships will most probably depend on the extent to which they will be linked to the pre-accession funds. As in the case of candidate countries, inclusion of the goals of economic and social cohesion into the CARDS programme, based on national priorities, would be particularly beneficial. Therefore introducing mechanisms similar to those that were available to the current candidate countries would significantly help and speed up the preparations for integrating into the EU and will hopefully enhance Croatia’ s chances to catch up the mentioned remaining candidates in their efforts to become EU members.

Croatia; Southeast Europe; integration; EU Stabilization and Association Process; new instruments

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