European Commission (EC) President Jose Manual Barroso has urged Croatia to meet its European Union (EU) membership conditions in 2008 in order to wrap up accession negotiations next year.
One of the most pressing priorities for Croatia in its EU membership bid is its management of EU financial assistance, which Barroso said needed urgent improvement.
In a press release, Barroso also urged Croatia to suspend all aspects of the Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone affecting EU vessels.
The Commission would continue to support the efforts of the former Yugoslav republic in making the fisheries sector more competitive, he said, pointing out that EU funding for this sector amounted to some 12 million euros (18 million U.S. dollars) until the end of 2009.
Barroso also said that "Croatia must comply with all legal obligations under the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and it must continue to comply with the general conditionalities of the Stabilization and Association Process."
The signing of the SAA between the EU and a candidate nation marks the first formal step for the latter to embark on the road toward EU membership.
Despite the challenges ahead, Barroso praised Croatia for its "good progress overall" and expressed confidence that "Croatia is in a position to make 2008 a decisive year of progress."
"I have every confidence that Croatia will be able to meet the conditions, every confidence that the Commission will therefore be able to set out such a conditional roadmap in the autumn, and every confidence that it should be possible to conclude the technical negotiations next year, preferably by the end of the mandate of the Commission," he said.
The remarks were made after a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
This autumn marks the third anniversary of the start of Croatia's EU membership negotiations.
Source: Xinhua
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