The annual progress report on Croatia, published by the European Commission on Tuesday, gives a detailed overview of everything Croatia has done over the past year regarding the political and economic criteria of EU membership and its ability to assume obligations arising from EU membership, namely alignment with the EU's acquis communautaire.
In the part of the report dealing with Croatia's ability to assume the obligations of membership, the EC examines the degree of alignment of the Croatian legislation with that of the EU and the country's administrative capacity to implement the EU legislation.
In its EU entry talks, Croatia has closed negotiations on 25 policy areas, and nine more areas remain to be closed, that is, ten if the policy area No. 35 - Other Issues - is counted.
For each of the 33 policy areas that are negotiated the EC gives a detailed overview of what has been done in the past year and what remains to be done. Progress was registered in all policy areas, even in those that are considered the most difficult - Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, and Competition Policy.
Croatia has made good progress in the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights policy area. Reforms in the judiciary have continued with the adoption of new laws that strengthen court autonomy and reduce the backlog of cases. Nevertheless, the judicial reform remains a big endeavour and significant challenges remain, notably with regard to court efficiency, autonomy and responsibility, the EC says.
Anti-corruption efforts have been stepped up with some positive results. A track record of effective investigation, prosecution and court rulings remains to be established, especially for high-level corruption. Preventive measures such as improved transparency of public spending need to be strengthened. Protection of fundamental rights has been strengthened, but needs to be improved in practice, especially for minorities and refugees, the EC says.
In the Competition Policy area, the EC reported progress, notably regarding the privatisation and restructuring of state-owned shipyards.
"Overall, a good level of alignment has been achieved. However, further efforts are still required to improve the Croatian Competition Agency's enforcement record against cartels, to improve administrative capacity further, in particular in the area of antitrust, to complete alignment of the Croatian Broadcasting Act, to update the National Restructuring Plans for the steel industry and to adopt restructuring plans in line with the state aid acquis for the shipyards in difficulty."
