Brussels, 12/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Croatia is making real efforts to reform its judiciary and fight corruption, but more hard work is needed, said European Justice, Security and Liberty Commissioner Franco Frattini on Thursday. “Croatia has made significant progress, as we saw an increased number of corruption cases before the court last year,” he is quoted by Reuters as saying during a visit to Zagreb. “It's a good message. Reforms, including improvement of legislation, are important and necessary, but we want even more concrete progress in concrete cases,” he added. The slowness of the judicial system, the scale of corruption and the high level of state subsidies are seen as problematic areas in Croatia's EU accession negotiations, which began at the end of 2005. Croatia hopes it will be in a position to join the EU in 2009, but experts agree that accession is more likely to take place towards the end of 2010. Mr Frattini said that Croatia was a very important example for the Balkans, as the region tries to overcome the disastrous effects of the wars which followed the break up of Yugoslavia in the 90s. Croatia is one of the region's main routes for smuggling drugs and cigarettes, and human trafficking, Mr Frattini said. He said he had urged the interior ministers of Italy, Hungary and Slovenia to find a new solution to border traffic and control with Croatia, once the new EU Schengen regime comes into force, probably towards the end of 2007. (bc)