Croatia is very satisfied with the European Commission's latest progress report and the country will fulfill the remaining tasks by the release of the next report. Croatia only expects a fair assessment of its achievements from Germany, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said in an interview which the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published on Wednesday.
Asked by this German daily whether she was surprised by the statement of Bundestag Speaker Norbert Lammert that Croatia was not yet mature for European Union membership, the Croatian minister answered that she was quite surprised, not because of any expectations of privileged treatment by Germany, but because of the latest report which was the best report Croatia got from the European Commission since the opening of the accession negotiations in October 2005.
The latest report on Croatia's progress showed "dramatic improvements in comparison to the report issued by the Commission this spring", Pusic said.
"Croatia has been the first country to be subject to a new EU monitoring mechanism," the minister said, adding that from the previous report this past spring to the latest report Croatia met 80% of its tasks.
Having in mind that we will enter the Union on 1 July and not on 1 January 2013, one more report will be released in the spring. We have naturally planned to fulfill some tasks from this autumn to next spring. We are very satisfied with the latest report. Also, we were also very surprised that some parties in Germany understood the report as negative, she said.
Pusic said that the Croatian ambassador in Berlin had been instructed in the meantime to explain to German politicians and media Croatia's positions, after some statements by German politicians strongly echoed in Croatia.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has reassured me that the German position has not changed. Germany will see to it that Croatia meets all requirements and all criteria and Germany will behave in a fair way if we do that. We don't ask for anything more. We don't ask for short-cuts or privileged treatment, only for a fair assessment, the Croatian minister said.
Asked whether she expects delays in the German or the Dutch parliament, Pusic sad that she did not expect any problems in the Netherlands provided that Croatia met all conditions.
Until recently, I didn't foresee any problems in the Bundestag, but now I'm not absolutely certain. Anyway, we take seriously everything that is stated in Germany and I expect them to treat us fairly, she added.
According to previous announcements, the Bundestag is due to ratify Croatia's treaty of accession with the EU in the spring of 2013.
