Europees Parlement positief over toetreding Kroatië (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Croatia's bid for EU membership has received a boost from MEPs determined to make sure that their report criticising the European Commission's overall enlargement strategy does not undermine Zagreb's prospects for joining the club.

An enlargement report approved by the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Thursday (23 November) "welcomes the progress made by Croatia on its way into the European Union."

It also notes "that this well-prepared country with less than 4.5 million inhabitants does not overstrain the integration capacity of the European Union."

The strongly pro-Croatia language was added after a debate in the committee earlier in the week in which MEPs had expressed concern that a previous version of the report, stating that "there can be no further enlargement without a Constitution for Europe", was too restrictive.

Several deputies argued that Croatia, which is hoping for a speedy EU entry by the end of the decade, could not be held hostage to the bloc's own internal wrangling over its frozen plans for a constitution.

The toned-down report now reads that the current institutional set-up, under the Nice Treaty, "does not provide an adequate basis for further enlargements."

MEPs' concern reflect the recent debate in the EU, sparked off by commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, that there should not be further enlargement until the EU's institutions are reformed.

Germany has taken up the challenge and indicated that during the first half of next year, under its EU presidency, it will work on getting constitutional talks back on track envisaging reform by 2009 - in line with Zagreb's own enlargement hopes.

However, with so many open questions about how to proceed, the timetable risks running over.

Strong criticism

Although Croatia received a boost on Thursday, MEPs were strongly critical of the commission's newly-published general strategy on enlargement.

In its 8 November enlargement paper, the commission suggested that the monitoring process of countries already in membership talks would be toughened up and that future enlargement would likely occur only in the medium to longterm.

According to MEPs, however, the commission's definition of "integration capacity" - a key term meant to give an indication of the extent to which the bloc's own well-being needs to be taken into account before further expansion - was "unsatisfactory."

They also complain that the commission avoided other key tricky questions such as how to finance future enlargement.

All bark?

But for all the harsh tone of the report, enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn had an easy time of it when he appeared before the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday to discuss his ideas on enlargement strategy.

The criticism in the report was barely reflected in the MEPs' debate, with the commissioner emerging unscathed after a series of soft questions.

The report is to be voted on by the whole parliament on 13 December, the day before EU leaders get together to discuss the thorny issue.