Assistant Minister Marušić attends meeting of EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee

Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Hrvoje Marušić 29 and 30 April in Split attended the meeting of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee

Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Hrvoje Marušić 29 and 30 April in Split attended the meeting of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee which co-chaired by Andrej Plenković and Gunnar Hökmark gathers Croatian and European parliament delegations.  

The meeting focused on the final preparations for Croatia’s EU entry, the political situation in Southeast Europe, Croatia’s participation in the EU and preparations for entering the Schengen area. The participants welcomed the positive opinion on Croatia’s readiness for the EU membership put forth in the European Commission’s Final Monitoring Report and expressed satisfaction with the European Parliament resolution on the 2012 Comprehensive Monitoring Report.

Marušić said we had met all of the 10 priority criteria, underlining Croatia’s willingness to carry on with the reforms. He said that in the coming months the government and all of the state administration bodies would double their efforts to prepare as best as possible for efficient functioning in the condition of full-fledged membership, namely in terms of defining priorities and active participation in the creation of European policies. He thanked the state administration bodies for their commitment and committee members for the 10 years of constructive work and support. Marušić said that preparations for entering the Schengen area would be one of the priorities in the upcoming period.

The participants stressed the importance of Croatia’s active role as a soon-to-be EU member in stimulating the European prospect of Southeast Europe. Marušić said Croatia would strongly advocate the revitalization of EU enlargement onto the SEE countries, with the same methodology and criteria that had been applied to Croatia. He underscored that Croatia would continue to offer active support to the countries in the region through the transfer on know-how and experience as well as through the Centre of Excellence.

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