XL - Eiropas Parlaments - Europa

2 16-02-2011
4 - Sprawozdanie z postępów Chorwacji w roku 2010 (debata)
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Przewodniczący. − Kolejnym punktem porządku dziennego są oświadczenia Rady i Komisji dotyczące sprawozdania z
postępów Chorwacji w roku 2010.
Wczoraj spotkałem się z panią premier Chorwacji. Byli ze mną także dwaj przedstawiciele naszych ważnych instytucji,
pan sprawozdawca Hannes Swoboda i szef naszej delegacji stałej do Chorwacji, Gunnar Hökmark. Rozmawialiśmy na
temat postępów Chorwacji w drodze do Unii Europejskiej. Cieszę się ogromnie, że możemy dzisiaj porozmawiać już
bezpośrednio, w gronie wszystkich koleżanek i kolegów, o tym jak wyglądają negocjacje i przyszłość Chorwacji w Unii
Europejskiej. Cieszę się, że jest z nami również pan komisarz Füle, który odpowiada za naszą politykę sąsiedztwa. Teraz
chciałbym, żeby w imieniu Rady zabrał głos pan János Martonyi. Pan minister i prezydencja węgierska przywiązują dużą
wagę do rozszerzenia o Chorwację i dlatego jest to ważny punkt w prezydencji węgierskiej. Bardzo prosimy, Panie
Ministrze.
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János Martonyi, President-in-Office of the Council. − Mr President, on behalf of the Presidency of the European Union,
may I say that it is a particular pleasure for me to address the plenary sitting of the European Parliament today.
This meeting provides a timely opportunity to review progress on Croatia’s accession process and present the Hungarian
Presidency’s plans for this first semester of the year.
First and foremost, I would like to welcome Parliament’s active engagement with the enlargement process, and its
constructive contribution to the general debate on enlargement and on Croatia’s accession process in particular.
As we have underlined several times, enlargement reinforces peace, democracy and stability in Europe, serves the
European Union’s strategic interests and helps the EU to better achieve its policy objectives in important areas which are
key to economic recovery and sustainable growth.
Enlargement is a key driver for political and economic reform. It moves forward at a pace which is largely determined by
the candidate country’s respect of the Copenhagen criteria and its capacity to take on the obligations of membership.
Enlargement is one of the main priorities of our Presidency, and our work during this semester will be to advance the
policy in line with the renewed consensus on enlargement adopted by the European Council in December 2006, as well as
with the Council conclusions of 14 December 2010, which have been endorsed by the European Council.
With regard to Croatia, conclusion of the accession negotiations, as stated in the conclusions of the European Council, is
within reach, and our goal is to conclude the negotiations by the end of the Hungarian Presidency – provided of course that
Croatia completes the remaining benchmarks for closing the negotiating chapters.
We would also like to finalise the accession treaty as far as possible, thereby paving the way to Croatia’s accession to the
EU which we look forward to. Therefore, as highlighted in your resolution, this semester will be crucial for Croatia’s
negotiating process.
Let me now speak very briefly about the outstanding issues. So far, since the start of negotiations, 34 of the 35 chapters
have been opened for negotiation, of which 28 have been provisionally closed.
We are therefore very close to the conclusion of the negotiations. However, we still have to close a couple of difficult
chapters such as competition, agriculture and rural development, fisheries, regional policy and coordination of structural
instruments, the judiciary and fundamental rights, and financial and budgetary provisions, some of them of course with
budgetary implications.
In the Council conclusions on Croatia adopted last December, we highlighted key issues that require further work in these
areas. You have been informed of them. We would also like to underline some points which are duly reflected in your
resolution.
The Council has noted that encouraging progress has been made by Croatia in many areas, including the rule of law and
the fight against high-level corruption. At the same time, it is clear that further efforts are required. These concern judicial
independence and efficiency and the fight against corruption at all levels.
The Council also encouraged Croatia to step up its efforts to fulfil the remaining benchmarks, including the building of
convincing track records, in particular as regards competition policy, as well as the judiciary and fundamental rights.