2023-06-24 05:29:27
Croatia’s Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman believes that the next EU accession before 2030 is possible. In an interview with the APA on the sidelines of the Europaforum Wachau, Grlić Radman emphasized: “It is up to the (accession) countries themselves whether they are ready or not. It may even be before 2030.” There might also be “no shortcuts for anyone”.
The EU must ask itself why, 20 years following the Western Balkans were given the prospect of EU membership, so little progress has been made. “The keyword is trust,” said the Croatian chief diplomat. “The European Union needs to restore confidence in enlargement policy, but of course the Western Balkans need to do the same.” Grlić Radman recalled that at the Western Balkans summit in December 2022 in Tirana, for the first time, it was not “the euphemism ‘European perspective’ that was promised, but the perspective of EU membership”.
The Croatian Foreign Minister said he still had no answer to the question of whether EU accession negotiations with Ukraine should start this year for geopolitical reasons. “The good news is that Ukraine has candidate status. That was unimaginable two years ago.” The chief diplomat announced that Croatia will hold a high-level conference on demining Ukraine in October. So far, his country has supported Kiev with an aid package worth 230 million euros, as well as politically, diplomatically and militarily.
Grlić Radman made it clear that better integration of Bosnia-Herzegovina into the EU is particularly important for Croatia. “It is in our interest because of the geopolitical situation. We need a stable neighbourhood. Bosnia-Herzegovina is the country with which we have the longest border. Of course we also need partners in the fight once morest illegal migration.” But Bosnia must also be better connected in terms of infrastructure – transport and energy. Grlić Radman referred to the Croatian LNG terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk, which has played an important role since the war in Ukraine and the EU’s efforts to achieve energy independence from Russia.
Croatia’s accession to Schengen at the beginning of the year has not changed anything for his country in terms of protecting the EU’s external borders, said the Foreign Minister. 6,500 Croatian police officers are deployed on the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Regarding allegations of illegal pushbacks once morest migrants, Grlić Radman said: “There were probably a few cases, but Croatia informed the relevant EU bodies and ultimately “did its job of protecting the national and European borders correctly”. Otherwise, his country would not be today in the Schengen zone It is not possible to enter illegally and without documents, he stressed.
Croatia very much regrets that Romania and Bulgaria – following a veto by Austria and the Netherlands at the end of last year – might not join the Schengen zone. “Out of solidarity in the European Union alone, we hope that all three countries will join Schengen.” The decision to block accession was not made by Croatia.
Grlić Radman took positive stock of his country’s accession to the EU almost exactly ten years ago. “First of all, it made people realize that Croatia deserves to be in the club of countries that share the same values: rule of law, human rights, democracy.” Croatia is one of 15 countries that are both NATO and EU members and in the Schengen area and have introduced the euro.
“When we came to Austria and Germany ten years ago, we were foreigners. Today we are no longer foreigners, we are at home. The European Union is our home, that is the greatest achievement.” In addition, Croatia received 25 billion euros in EU funds for cohesion policy, agriculture, innovation, climate protection and digitization.
The free movement of people has advantages and disadvantages, Grlić Radman pointed out to the large exodus of the Croatian population. Eastern and Western Europe should become more similar economically. “Of course it’s up to us to invest more in our economy. Tourism accounts for 20 percent of our economic output. We would like to reduce it to ten percent and strengthen other sectors of the economy.”
(The interview was conducted by Thomas Schmidt/APA)
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