Croatia became the 28th member state of the European Union

04.07.2013

On July 1 of 2013, at midnight, Croatia officially became the 28th member state of the European Union. Croatia applied for membership in the European Union in 2003. In early 2004, the European Commission recommended Croatia as a candidate for official candidate status. This status was assigned to Croatia in the mid of 2004. Thus, the accession of Croatia to the European Union took about 10 years.

To join the European Union, Croatia conducted difficult and unpopular reforms, such as: reform of government`s bodies, the judiciary system was reformed, also Croatia started a fight against corruption and the strengthening of border police, which would guard the frontier ambits of the European Union.

Croatia citizens voted for the accession of Croatia to the European Union at the national referendum, which took place in January 2012. About 66.24% of citizens voted for entering. Treaty of Accession Croatia to the European Union was signed by 27 heads of the states, which are members of the European Union, and by the Croatian President and the Prime Minister in January of 2012.

Croatia hopes that after accession to the European Union it would be able to get the country out of the economical crisis, to establish better economic relations in the euro zone. Croatian Prime Minister, Zoran Milanovic, mentioned: “Whatever may be said about us, you know - we are rationally thinking people, and we really understands the strength and of our country, and the role of our country in the European Union and in the hole world”.

Based on:

http://europa.eu/newsroom/

Expert’s opinion

Accession of Croatia to the European Union, the event is sure to historical. First of all, it`s the important event in Croatian history. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatia is the second country after Slovenia, which did the great job to restore the country and to establish stable economy. However, we should notice, that there is an economic crisis in the Croatia right now, for the last 5 years there has been an economic recession in the country.

However, as many experts mentions, the entering of Croatia to the European Union wouldn`t at once solve all their problems. Moreover, the country's accession to the European Union is just the small part of job, which it would have to deal with to adapt in euro zone. Croatia must get used to the new legislation and legal regime. Only after such adaptation we can name Croatia the recognized participant of the European Union

Kulik Alexey