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Germany Welcomes Croatia in the EU
The German lower house of parliament approved Croatia's entry to the European Union on Thursday, clearing the last formal hurdle for the former Yugoslav republic to enter the bloc, scheduled to join the EU on 1 of July.
"Croatia's entry shows that the EU's attraction continues unbroken. Europe is not just about crisis. The European perspective is what drives reforms in our neighbourhood," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told the German Bundestag.
Germany, with the EU's biggest and most powerful economy, was the last member state to ratify the accession treaty as it had waited for the final European Commission report on Croatia's readiness to join. That report, issued in March, was positive. Among 589 lawmakers to vote, 583 voted yes and six abstained. The treaty will now be rubber-stamped by Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.
Croatia started accession talks in 2005 and completed them in mid-2011. It is only the second former Yugoslav republic, after Slovenia in 2004, to join the EU.
Recently upgrades on border lines and crossings are taking place as Croatia to becomes the EU member.
The country has seen its border policeman triple to around 6,000, with a stricter form of passport and customs control, improving the surveillance with advanced technologies.
The most difficult tasks it had to complete to join were tackling widespread corruption, improving the efficiency of the judiciary and privatisation of its ailing shipbuilding industry.
Anna van Densky
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