Brussels, 18/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 18 September, the European Commission confirmed that it had formally launched the so-called “Article 39 procedure” against Croatia. This effectively means the activation of the justice and home affairs safeguard clause, in view of the continued non-compliance by Croatia with the European Arrest Warrant Framework Decision.
As indicated by Commissioner Viviane Reding on Tuesday (see EUROPE 10923), member states will be consulted over a 10-day period regarding appropriate measures to be taken against Croatia. Possible measures include enhanced monitoring of the laws implemented by Croatia in the JHA area (but not, at this stage, introducing a similar mechanism to that applied in Romania and Bulgaria) and the suspension of funds earmarked to help prepare Croatia's Schengen accession.
These measures will be activated at the end of the consultation, unless Croatia responds to all of the Commission's demands. The Commission has criticised the Croatian authorities for failing to reintroduce provisions on the European Arrest Warrant, which the country had amended three days before the country officially joined the EU, in order to prevent the European Arrest Warrant covering all crimes committed before 2002. The government recently informed the Commission that it would repeal the amendments and announced that the new changes would be in force by July 2014. The Commission, however, considers that this timeframe is too long. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic again asserted that these changes would not be made until next July. (SP/trans.fl)