The meeting was co-chaired by Director at the European Commission's Enlargement Directorate General Alexandra Cas Granje and Secretary of State for European Integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Andrej Plenković
The meeting was co-chaired by Director at the European Commission's Enlargement Directorate General Alexandra Cas Granje and Secretary of State for European Integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Andrej Plenković.
The meeting provided a comprehensive overview of the relations between Croatia and the EU in terms of implementing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).
Secretary of State Plenković praised the cooperation with the European Commission in the implementation of the SAA and the activities of the six subcommittees. He reiterated Croatia’s engagement in monitoring the fulfilment of the accession obligations by 1 July 2013, especially in chapters 8 – Competition Policy, 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, and 24 – Justice, Freedom and Security.
He expressed satisfaction with the following day’s signing of the Accession Treaty and called on the member countries to ratify it in a timely fashion.
Also discussed were the political and economic criteria, implementation and application of the SAA directives, harmonization of Croatia’s legislature with the aquis communautaire, financial assistance and participation in the EU programs, as well as institutional and general issues.
The implementation of t he SAA, in effect since 2005, represents the legal framework of the relations between Croatia and the EU, and is one of the ways to monitor the obligations assumed through the accession negotiations. The SAA and the obligations stemming from it will be in effect until Croatia joins the EU on 1 July 2013.
Meetings of the Stabilisation and Association Committee are held annually and see the presence of all the relevant Croatian parties, as well as representatives of the European Commission and the EU members. The aim is to outline the fulfilment of the political criteria and the overall economic situation in regard to meeting the economic criteria, as well as review the remaining sector issues in the implementation of the SAA.
Conclusively, the representatives of Croatia and the European Commission issued a
joint communiqué.
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