Brussels, 25/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission considers that Croatia fulfils the conditions for negotiating a stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) with the EU, and recommends that the Council take a stance along these lines. If the Council states its position in June, the Commission proposes to present, by July, a draft negotiating directive, and to recommend that the Council authorise it to negotiate. Such are the essential conclusions of the report that the Commission adopted on Wednesday evening "on the possibility of negotiating an agreement for stabilisation and association with the Republic of Croatia".
This feasibility report comes within the context of the stabilisation process of South East Europe, set up by the EU last year, which had already given rise to two previous reports (concerning Macedonia and Albania). In the event of a positive assessment by the Commission, the SAAs envisaged will establish a vast partnership, covering not only political dialogue but also regional cooperation, free trade in goods, legislation approximation, and economic and financial cooperation, etc.
The report on Croatia notes that, following the arrival to power of the new leading team, there has been considerable progress in both political and economic fields: a return of refugees and displaced persons, democratisation of the media, first encouraging economic measures, etc. Nonetheless, the major economic problems remain: a vast programme of reforms should be adopted soon and major effort towards Community legislation approximation are still necessary. While expressing its concern for such shortcomings, the Commission considers negotiations could soon begin.