Kroatië ontvreden over gebrek erkenning tempo hervormingen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Croatia has expressed dissatisfaction with the state of its European Union membership negotiations, claiming it is not getting enough credit from the EU's side for the pace at which it is carrying out internal reforms.
"Although we are not displeased (_) I cannot nonetheless state that we are satisfied," Croatia's chief negotiator with the EU Vladimir Drobnjak told MEPs on Tuesday (29 January).
The state of the talks "does not reflect all the work and effort Croatia has done so far," he added.
Croatia launched EU accession talks in October 2005 and has so far opened 16 out of its 35-chapter negotiations package. Two have been provisionally closed.
According to Croatia's negotiator, his country's shortcomings are not the only reason why the process is taking a long time.
"We are aware of our shortcomings, but the overall speed doesn't stand only with us. It [the procedure] is so complex, that not only one side can be blamed for the pace. It is not a one-sided process," Mr Drobnjak said.
He noted that while Zagreb has produced some 26,000 pages of documents in relation to its membership application, the EU has been slow to respond, something the Croatian diplomat said was a "disappointment."
For his part, Austrian Socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda - in charge of the Croatia dossier in the European Parliament, reiterated earlier calls for Croatia to speed up reforms in order to finalise accession negotiations by the end of this year.
Talks should be finalised by the end of 2008 so as to leave enough time for MEPs to give their assent to the terms of Croatia's membership of the bloc - known as the accession treaty - before the 2009 European election.
The parliament's last plenary session before the elections will be in April 2009, Mr Swoboda underlined.
According to the MEP, judicial reforms remain a "vital issue", while the competitiveness of the country's ship building industry has still to be improved and a controversy concerning the Adriatic sea has to be resolved.
Croatia has proclaimed a protected fishing and ecological zone covering an area of some 57,000 square kilometres in the Adriatic Sea - although it has not yet been implemented.
It says it aims to protect Adriatic Sea fishing stocks, but the move is also seen as being linked to an ongoing dispute between Croatia and Slovenia over their common sea border.
If the issue is not solved quickly, it risks becoming an obstacle to the country's EU bid, the European Commission has warned Zagreb. Croatia is likely to join the bloc by 2011.