Zagreb might need extra time in 2011 to conclude accession talks

Croatia is strongly determined to conclude its EU accession talks by the end of 2010. According to Andrej Plenković, the country’s newly appointed state secretary for European integration, it might happen, however, that “one or two chapters” out of the 33 subject to negotiation will be closed in early 2011 only. Six months ahead of the deadline, Croatia has yet to open three chapters and close 15 - a very ambitious goal given the complexity of the issues that need to be sorted out. Plenković is hopeful that even with such minor delay, Zagreb would be able to sign the accession treaty in the first half of 2011, paving the country’s way for accession in 2012.

Are you relieved by the positive outcome of the border arbitration referendum in Slovenia?
Croatia is very pleased that the majority of Slovenians voted in favour of the ratification of the border arbitration agreement. We believe it was a very mature and timely vote. It enables us to continue our negotiation process and enables both countries to prepare for the arbitration procedure.

Are you concerned with the statement by Janez Jansa that his party and the opposition will not vote in favour of Croatia’s accession treaty if the result of the arbitration is not known before?
We shall go step by step. The first step is to prepare for the arbitration and the second to put the arguments forward in the arbitration process. Then we shall see, after the arbitration award is taken, how to continue. At the same time, we hope that Slovenia, as one of the 27 EU member states, will duly and in time ratify the accession treaty of Croatia.

Croatia is going to hold a referendum on its EU accession. Meanwhile, according to latest Eurobarometer, only 24% of Croatians see their country’s membership as “a good thing”. Aren’t you concerned that the referendum might fail?
According to a recent opinion poll, carried out by the Croatian Foreign Affairs Ministry between December 2009 and April 2010, 70% of the Croats say they would take part in the referendum. Of them, 53% say they would vote in favour of accession, 40% against and 7% declare to be undecided. These are more optimistic numbers. We believe that the Croats will at the end vote in favour of accession. The plan is to hold the referendum just before the signing of the accession treaty or shortly after that. But for us the most important thing now is to conclude the accession negotiations by the end of 2010. We have provisionally opened 30 out of the 33 chapters and provisionally closed 18 areas. There is still some work to be done to open the remaining three chapters by the end of the Spanish EU Presidency and to provisionally close another four before the summer break. We want to use the rest of the Belgian EU Presidency to close the remaining 11 chapters.

The European Commission still declines to confirm that Croatia would be able to conclude its accession talks by the end of 2010 and even some of Croatian politicians, including the president, suggest that the negotiations might continue until early 2011. Is it realistic in your opinion that Croatia will meet this deadline?
Whether we shall be able to technically conclude the negotiations by the end of 2010 is very difficult to say at this point in time. It is important that we achieve maximum result during the Belgian Presidency. If there are one or two chapters that would have to be addressed a month longer we shall do our best so that the technical conclusion of the negotiations takes place at the beginning of the Hungarian Presidency. For us it is really important that the actual signing of the accession treaty happens during the first part of 2011.

As for the Belgian Presidency, I’m sure you are aware of the uncertain political situation in the country. Aren’t you afraid that it might jeopardise your integration schedule?
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme was in Zagreb on 1 June. He met with President Ivo Josipovic and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. The message we received during these visits was very positive and encouraging. The Belgian authorities are prepared to support the objective of Croatia to conclude its accession talks in 2010. Also, notwithstanding the outcome of the Belgian elections, we are confident that the administrative and diplomatic capacity of Belgium will be strong enough to continue our process of integration in the most efficient and professional manner.

On Chapter 23, which covers judiciary and fundamental rights issues, the report of ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz is expected to be less optimistic on Croatia’s cooperation than Zagreb anticipated. What decision do you expect from the member states?
Mr Brammertz visited Croatia a few days ago. We know that our authorities, and here I speak about the specific task force that was established by the government, have been working hard to establish the chain of command for the documents, which were produced in 1995 during Operation Storm. On our side, we have done everything in our capacity to identify and hand over all the documents the prosecutor was seeking.

What progress have you made in the field of competition, a chapter that is also yet to be opened?
We are optimistic that Chapter 8, dealing with competition issues, could also be opened by the end of the Spanish Presidency. The main issue in this chapter is the privatisation of shipyards. The government has organised two rounds of tenders. The deadline of the last tender expired on 19 May and out of six shipyards, which were in the bidding process, we received offers for three. Now a special expert committee will take a thorough look into the offers and restructuring plans of the potential buyers to make a final decision. Regarding the three other shipyards, we believe that one of them will be privatised and the future of the other two will be decided by the government after consultations with their management and the European Commission.

Do you expect to be able to open talks on foreign, security and defence policy – a chapter that for a long time has been blocked by Ljubljana - under the Spanish Presidency?
We believe that after the referendum, Slovenia has no reason to stick to its reservations regarding the opening of this chapter.