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Split - The European Union-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) held its 17th meeting in Split's Le Meridien Lav hotel on Tuesday and adopted a proposed joint recommendation consisting of ten points which, among other things, welcomes Croatia's accession to the EU and the positive final European Commission's comprehensive monitoring report released in March.
The proposal for a joint recommendation is being forwarded to the Council for Stabilisation and Association of Croatia and the EU. Chairman of the Delegation to the EU-Croatia JPC Andrej Plenković assessed that the joint recommendations adopted today "identified all the vital elements in relations between Croatia and the European Union over the past few months.
"We warmly welcome Croatia's forthcoming accession to the European Union on 1 July 2013 as its 28th member state", the recommendation notes in point 1. In point 2, the delegation calls on those EU member states that have not yet ratified Croatia's accession treaty to do so in a timely manner. Denmark and Germany are yet to ratify the treaty and have announced that they will do so on May 2 and 16 respectively. The recommendation further commends Croatia for the positive comprehensive report issued by the EC in March which notes that Croatia has met all the priorities set in the October 2012 report and considers Croatia to be well prepared to take on obligations pertaining to EU membership. Croatia's commitment to continue implementing reforms even after accession is also welcomed. EU member countries are asked to determine "minimum restrictions" relating to freedom of workers from transition countries.
The JPC also welcomes Croatia's progress in aligning with Schengen legislation as well as applying and implementing it, and its constructive role in regional cooperation.
Croatia's 12 new MEPs were welcomed to the European Parliament and the JPC called on the Croatian government and other stakeholders to strengthen efforts in communications between the European Union and Croatian citizens in order to attract a larger number of eligible voters for the 2014 European Parliament election. The meeting in Split will be the last for the JPC which has discussed all vital issues over the past ten years concerning relations between Croatia and the European Union. An official press conference has been announced for later this afternoon to conclude the meeting. (Hina)