News archive - EC Commissioner Olli Rehn: "Croatia Could Complete EU Talks in 2010"
Croatia may conclude accession talks with the EU by mid-2010, the bloc's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, says. "If Croatia meets the outstanding benchmarks in time, especially in relation to the judiciary and ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] cooperation, and if the border issue with Slovenia is resolved soon, we may be able to conclude the accession negotiations in the course of the first half of next year, 2010," Rehn told the European Parliament...
Croatia expected to become 28th member of the EU
"Opening negotiations with Croatia and Turkey in Luxembourg on 3rd or 4th of October was the key moment. Prior to that, we negotiated for two days and three nights. Croatia is doing fine when it comes to negotiations. We are opening new chapters quite fast and I expect that Croatia will become the 28th member of the EU, unless Island is planning to surprise us and applies for the membership. In that case, if it happens at the same time, we'll decide which country is going to be the 28th member according to the alphabetical order."
Sources: ttp://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/21974/ and http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/rehn/pdf/interviews/071011_jutarnij_en.pdf, as accessed on Sept. 3, 2009.
Entry created by Katarina Rohsmann on September 3, 2009
Modified on September 3, 2009
