Brussels, 18/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - During a four-day visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Croatia, the President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell called on the two countries to continue and increase their reforms ahead of accession to the EU, says a press release. The progress of the two countries towards accession depended largely on their efforts to meet the Copenhagen criteria and the conditions of the stabilisation and association agreements, said Mr Borrell. He congratulated Macedonia (a candidate for EU accession: Ed) on the progress it had made while pointing out that further effort was required to meet the criteria which would allow negotiations to be opened as quickly as possible. Parliament will keep a close watch on how the forthcoming legislative elections in Macedonia go: if international standards are met, this would be a clear sign of the democratic development of the country. Mr Borrell asked Croatia, which had made “impressive” progress since EU accession talks were opened, to continue its efforts to bring to fruition the reforms undertaken. He also welcomed the opening of negotiations on CEFTA, a regional free trade agreement, to replace the 31 current bilateral agreements.