Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Croatia cut out for EU membership

Croatia has met the political and economic criteria and is ready to start membership talks with the EU, the European Commission is expected to announce next week in Strasbourg.

The former Yugoslav republic of 4.7 million people applied for membership last February and hopes to join the EU as early as 2007 along with Romania and Bulgaria.

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Member states will decide in June whether to grant Croatia candidate country status.

One of the most important conditions for starting talks is that Croatia has to continue co-operation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal, writes the Financial Times.

But, EU enlargement commissioner Günter Verheugen is expected to announce in Strasbourg on Tuesday (20 April) that Croatia has met the political and economic criteria for membership, says the newspaper.

A positive announcement from the Commission would confirm its commitment to expand to the Balkans and would motivate other Balkan countries.

But it is Slovenia which will be the first former Yugoslav republic to join the EU on the 1 May - along with nine other countries.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

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