Brussels is shifting the political focus onto Croatian internal reforms as a potential barrier to speedy EU entry, while brushing under the carpet its own problems with institutional capacity after the EU constitution failure.
"The key to the speed of [enlargement] is very much in the hands of Croatia," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said after meeting Croat president Stipe Mesic in Brussels on Wednesday (6 December).
"It is sometimes important to set a date so we...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.