The accession of Croatia to the European Union, which is currently in a deep political and economic crisis, is a good signal to the Union itself that it can overcome the crisis, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said after talks with Croatian President Ivo Josipovic in Brussels on Wednesday.
I am glad to be able to greet in the European Parliament the president of a new member state. In our talks I have expressed hope that the ratification process will go fast enough so that Croatia can join the EU on 1 July 2013. That's a good signal for us in the EU, which is going through a difficult political and economic crisis. The fact that a new member is entering in such a crisis is a good signal, a signal that there is trust to overcome the crisis, but also a signal for a long-term project to ensure prosperity, political security and economic success, Schulz said.
Josipovic said that the word "trust" had dominated their 30-minute talks. "We in Croatia have trusted in the European project, the European Union has trusted in the Croatian approach to European values. I'm certain that the ratification process will be completed in time and that Croatia will become a member on 1 July 2013," he said.
On Thursday, the second day of his visit to Brussels, Josipovic will be a keynote speaker at a conference entitled "The State of the European Union in 2012", organised by the French business school INSEAD. The conference will be attended by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and many business people from leading European and international companies who will speak about the future of the EU and how the private sector and big companies could help strengthen the EU.
Josipovic has been invited as the president of a country about to join the EU, and he will speak of the reasons why Croatia has chosen its future within the EU.
