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CROATIA AND THE EU INTEGRATION PROCESS: BENEFITS, COSTS AND CHALLENGES

By Dragomir Sundac, Ph.D, professor at the Faculty of Economics Rijeka (Croatia). The collaborator on this article is Natasha Svast, B. and a Master’s student at the Faculty of Economics Rijeka.

 

One of the main strategic goals of the policy of the Government of Croatia is its integration into the European Union. This was clearly demonstrated on 21st February 2003, when Croatia applied for the EU membership. By 14th April 2003, Croatia has received an EC Questionnaire which included over 2500 questions regarding the legal system, the constitution, laws and regulations, statistics, foreign affairs, infrastructure, government subsidies to different branches of the economy, and many more. It is on 22nd August 2003 that the deadline for Croatian Ministries to submit the answered questions expires, and it is by the early October this year that the completed questionnaire, essential to EU membership, has to arrive to Brussels.

Based on the answers, the European Commission will form its Opinion, in which it will present its opinions and give recommendations about the ability of Croatia to become a candidate for EU membership. Since it will take the EC seven to eight months to prepare the Opinion, it is expected to be presented to the EU Council in Spring 2004. The Council will then decide whether it will grant Croatia an official candidate status and begin negotiations on admission.

During his visit to Croatia whose purpose was to deliver the EC Questionnaire, the EC President Romano Prodi encouraged the Croatian Government to continue the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and Interim Trade Agreement.

Signed in the year 2001, the main purpose of the Agreement was to give guidance for gradual amalgamation with the EU. The agreement provided a basis for economic, political, juridical, diplomatic, humanitarian and military co-operation, granting Croatia a status similar to that of associated membership, allowing a high degree of integration with the EU even before the actual membership is attained. The uniqueness of this agreement is in the fact that the acceptance to the EU is based on individual merits of Croatia, meaning that the readiness of Croatia to become an EU member is based on the individual capacity of Croatia to make all the necessary adjustments required to meet the two groups of criteria, the Copenhagen and Maastricht criteria, for becoming an EU member state.

The crucial objective of the Copenhagen criteria is helping the candidate country during the first stage of reaching the EMU.

During this first stage, the candidate country needs to undertake preliminary reforms, creating conditions that would support the development of the fundamental legal, political, administrative and economic criteria, all of which are mentioned in acquis communautaire, and conform to the institutional framework of the EU. Once these conditions are set, and the country has become an EU member, the next stage involves joining the EMU and accepting Euro as a common currency. Maastricht criteria help the candidate country during this stage by giving guidance on how to create stable macroeconomic conditions, and maintain them for at least two years, which would then allow the country to successfully implement the common currency.

Being the only precise and quantitative criteria, they are being used as measurement tools of the level of success of the candidate country in accomplishing the criteria for becoming a full EU member.

 

By Dragomir Sundac, Ph.D, professor at the Faculty of Economics Rijeka (Croatia). The collaborator on this article is Natasha Svast, B. and a Master’s student at the Faculty of Economics Rijeka.

 

One of the main strategic goals of the policy of the Government of Croatia is its integration into the European Union. This was clearly demonstrated on 21st February 2003, when Croatia applied for the EU membership. By 14th April 2003, Croatia has received an EC Questionnaire which included over 2500 questions regarding the legal system, the constitution, laws and regulations, statistics, foreign affairs, infrastructure, government subsidies to different branches of the economy, and many more. It is on 22nd August 2003 that the deadline for Croatian Ministries to submit the answered questions expires, and it is by the early October this year that the completed questionnaire, essential to EU membership, has to arrive to Brussels.

Based on the answers, the European Commission will form its Opinion, in which it will present its opinions and give recommendations about the ability of Croatia to become a candidate for EU membership. Since it will take the EC seven to eight months to prepare the Opinion, it is expected to be presented to the EU Council in Spring 2004. The Council will then decide whether it will grant Croatia an official candidate status and begin negotiations on admission.

During his visit to Croatia whose purpose was to deliver the EC Questionnaire, the EC President Romano Prodi encouraged the Croatian Government to continue the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and Interim Trade Agreement.

Signed in the year 2001, the main purpose of the Agreement was to give guidance for gradual amalgamation with the EU. The agreement provided a basis for economic, political, juridical, diplomatic, humanitarian and military co-operation, granting Croatia a status similar to that of associated membership, allowing a high degree of integration with the EU even before the actual membership is attained. The uniqueness of this agreement is in the fact that the acceptance to the EU is based on individual merits of Croatia, meaning that the readiness of Croatia to become an EU member is based on the individual capacity of Croatia to make all the necessary adjustments required to meet the two groups of criteria, the Copenhagen and Maastricht criteria, for becoming an EU member state.

The crucial objective of the Copenhagen criteria is helping the candidate country during the first stage of reaching the EMU.

During this first stage, the candidate country needs to undertake preliminary reforms, creating conditions that would support the development of the fundamental legal, political, administrative and economic criteria, all of which are mentioned in acquis communautaire, and conform to the institutional framework of the EU. Once these conditions are set, and the country has become an EU member, the next stage involves joining the EMU and accepting Euro as a common currency. Maastricht criteria help the candidate country during this stage by giving guidance on how to create stable macroeconomic conditions, and maintain them for at least two years, which would then allow the country to successfully implement the common currency.

Being the only precise and quantitative criteria, they are being used as measurement tools of the level of success of the candidate country in accomplishing the criteria for becoming a full EU member.