engleski

Challenges of Croatia and EU integration : is the fast track approach possible?

The starting point of the paper is the fact that launching of negotiations for membership is a cornerstone for the future long-term relationship between Croatia and the European Union and therefore requires deep and organised preparations. Croatia started successfully the preparations for integration and the status of the candidate for the EU membership, achieved in 2004, gave the country the attribute of the forerunner in the integration process among the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP). According to the economic development and the overall achieved level of preparations for the EU integration, Croatia is above the average of the SAP countries. However, the EU requirements for the integration are demanding and there are a number of further steps to be undertaken on the path towards the Union. The aim of this paper is to give a brief overview of the achievements, but also the challenges and potential threats in the next stage of the EU accession process. The paper also focuses on Croatia’ s progress in developing institutional and legislative capacity in line with EU requirements in the area of internal market.

EU integration; conditionality; accession negotiations; internal market

Časopis pre medzinárodné vzťahy, medzinárodné právo, diplomaciu, hospodárstvo a kultúru = Journal for International Relations, International Law, Diplomacy, Economics and Culture