Barroso made the pledge at the conclusions of a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday (13 March) during which the two sides agreed to settle remaining issues, including a dispute with Slovenia and Italy over fishing rights in the Adriatic.
He added the objective was "to conclude the technical negotiations next year, preferably by the end of the mandate of the Commission" in November 2009.
"In this autumn's enlargement package, the Commission will present an indicative timetable for the technical conclusion of the negotiations in 2009, provided a number of conditions are met by Croatia," said the Commission President. He said these included:
- Complying with all legal obligations under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), including cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY);
- "urgently" improving the management of EU financial assistance under the PHARE and IPA programmes, and;
- suspending all aspects of Croatia's Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone, which had blocked Slovenian and Italian vessels from fishing in Croatian waters.
The fisheries dispute had threatened to delay the talks as Zagreb claimed the area needed protection from overfishing. But Barroso said he considered the settlement of this issue "now done".
"I assured the prime minister that the Commission is strongly in favour of sustainable management of fisheries stocks," Barroso said, adding that Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg is "ready to work on a proposal to establish a Fisheries Protection Area in the Adriatic". He also pledged EU financial assistance of some €12 million until the end of 2009 under PHARE and IPA to make Croatia's fisheries sector "more competitive".
"A great signal has come from the European Commission. Finally, Croatia is given a date," commented Bernd Posselt, spokesman on Croatia for the EPP-ED, the European Parliament's largest political group. "I am confident Croatia will fulfil the remaining criteria in this time."
Croatia started EU accession talks in 2005 and hopes to join the Union by 2010. It also hopes to receive an invitation to join NATO this year.
