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EUROPEAN UNION LEADERS have given Croatia their provisional approval to join the European Union, becoming the 28th member of the union.
European council president Herman van Rompuy said Croatia had “turned the fundamentals of the State inside out to be fully aligned with European standards,” a process which had convinced the 27 heads of government to allow it enter the bloc.
Negotiations on completing an accession treaty could be concluded by the end of the month, with the ratification process among existing member states then likely to take around two full years.
Each existing member state is required to approve the accession treaty, but Croatia is not likely to face any major obstacles to joining – especially when the current 27 heads of government have already indicated their happiness with a Croatian deal.
The only other obstacle will be the holding of a referendum in Croatia, which under national law must be held within 30 days of the accession treaty being signed.
Bloomberg quoted Croatian prime minister Jadranka Kosor as saying the provisional approval was a “historic” moment for Croatia, which would “give us strength to continue with the hard work”.
Van Rompuy said the Croatian model could serve as inspiration for other Western Balkan states hoping to join the EU.
Croatia will be the second former Yugoslav republic, after Slovenia, to join the Union. Slovenia was one of ten countries to join the union in May 2004, during Ireland’s last presidency of the Council of the European Union.
If all of those hurdles are met, Croatia will join the EU on July 1, 2013 – just as Ireland’s next six-month presidency comes to an end.
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whatever about the pros or CONS of joining the EU, it says a lot for the Croatian state that they are now eligible to join the EU. They’ve obviously made a lot of improvements in human rights conditions, which can only be good news.
Now if only their Serbian neighbours could could make some progress in that area…
Like entering a bar half an hour after last orders. Lol
More like sitting on the iceberg and screaming to be let board the Titanic!
Welcome to the shit fest!!!
Maybe it would be better for them not to join the euro currency but still join the union
Yet another gang of politicians selling out their people.With Greece now in default will the EU last long enough for Croatia to be swallowed up?
Why would any right thinking government want their country to join the EU ?
Run while you still can !
Religious makeup of Croatia: 90% Roman Catholic, 1.5% Muslim (me being part of 1.5%) Not sure what you’re talking about. Google is very helpful, you know.
Google ? Is this a new University?
Google is obviously better than your source of information. Interesting you should question it and not yourself.
Just surprised you’d ask such question. Why do you think that Croatian legislation wouldn’t protect and stand for equal rights, same way Irish law does.
Well, it’s a first port of call.
Nothing wrong with the Union – just the Euro!
I wrote a large comment that got deleted.
So, Mad Gerald, let me keep it short this time: I agree with the idea that Google should not be used as an unmistakeable well of knowledge, but you’re just trolling.
Want some more official info?
My professor of Sociology of the Croatian Society at the Faculty of Political Science told us we have 87,8 % Catholics.
Organisational committee for Pope’s arrival to Croatia that happened a few weeks ago said 89,88 %.
Ivy – just for the sake of clarity, I’ve searched our comment database and we didn’t receive any earlier comments from you, so your computer or phone must have deleted it before it was sent to us.
Gavan, I misspoke, I’m sorry.. It was never posted successfully, not deleted. But when I went back to try and repost it, it had disappeared in my browser. Thank you for trying to clear this up.
Why the heck would anyone want to join the EU????
EU is great, people link too much current monetary crisis running EU to EU itself. There are almost only benefits of joining EU, especially for people who can finally freely roam, educate and evolve. Also not every country has oil like Norway to stand strong in its own, joining EU might be seen unwise in some eyes at current times, but not joining is much worse by any standard…
We’d be eating out of bins if it weren’t for the EU
Do women have the same rights as men in Croatia?
Is this a serious question?
Of course it is
I thought that was obvious, but maybe worth mentioning again, joining EU does not mean taking up Euro currency. Poland has been EU state for past 7 years and doesn’t use euro money, just as an example.
Interesting,a moslem country with no hidden 50%.
Croatia isn’t a Muslim country. It’s 88% Catholic, and 1.3% Muslim. That’s not much more of a percentage than Ireland will have when the census results come out on Thursday.
Muslim country? Where did you grab that wisdom from?
The EU is passed it’s sell by date
have your say